Ripples
by nolongerpostingonthissite
Summary: Harper had no idea that his rooftop speech would reverberate so far out into the universe...COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This story takes place during the second season after Bunker Hill (ep 211) but before Ourorboros (ep 212). Which means, Trance is still purple, Harper still has Magog larvae and Rommie has yet to have the weird blue hair. There are references to Bunker Hill and a few other 1st and 2nd season eps.

Oh, and I don't own them. No profit is being made. Etc, etc. Hope you enjoy.

OOO

He absolutely loved hot steamy showers. The pulsating water did wonders for his aching neck and shoulder muscles. Too much hand-to-hand combat was the culprit lately, though aches were also a sign of standing on the bridge for far too long. A habit he was sure he'd never break. He was certainly not too proud to recognize his control issues.

The rising steam carried his thoughts far away from negotiations, assassination threats or attempts and could almost drown out the Andromeda's engines so for the briefest of moments, he could imagine himself on his home planet of Tarn Vedra. The rivulets that formed and ran down the shower walls, unhindered, reminded him of his home world's unspoiled rivers and streams.

Dylan closed his eyes, breathed deeply and he was there. His mind's eye presented images from his youth, of lush vegetation, exotic animals and the clear sky of his home world. With the images came the warm emotions of a simpler time in his life. A small, relaxed smile crossed his rugged features.

"Dylan," Andromeda's disembodied voice stated over the com, pulling him from his fantasy, "Beka needs you on the bridge."

He popped one eye open and loudly sighed, the thoughts of home replaced with the cold reality of his situation. "Now?" he asked.

"We have received a distress signal from a drift in this system. It is urgent."

He turned off the shower and grabbed a towel. "Of course, what else would it be?" he half-mumbled. "Tell Beka I'll be there shortly."

Minutes later, Dylan strode onto the bridge to find his first officer already there pushing the relevant buttons to pull up the message. He couldn't say much for Beka's taste in clothing, and today was no exception. She was wearing a tattered black shirt, black pants and an outrageous choker, which truthfully was better than the red fiasco that adorned her yesterday. He actually had tried to convince her to conform to Commonwealth uniform codes but he was given a flat refusal. No matter really, he could always count on her to be herself and that was her best asset. Any change would be disconcerting.

"What have we got?" he asked as he approached the communication console.

"Oh, the usual. Someone needs our help." She answered while flashing the captain a sardonic smile. "Repeating distress signal from the Natasi Drift. No video, only audio," she clarified.

"Let's hear it."

Beka pushed the appropriate buttons and a female voice emanated from the com system on the bridge. The sound was of false bravado with an underlying hint of fear and desperation.

"This is the Natasi Drift requesting immediate assistance. Hit by Drago-Kazov. We require medical and engineering aid. We are facing imminent life support malfunction. I repeat we are facing imminent life support malfunction. If you can hear us, please help. This is the Natasi Drift requesting immediate assistance. Hit by…"

Beka turned off the transmission at the loop and sent a glance in Dylan's direction. He had that intense look he always got when the atrocities of space came crashing into his ideal plan of the universe. Even after witnessing what had become of the cosmos, first hand, and even after all of his attempts at forming a new commonwealth, a new order in the chaos, there was still violence happening that was beyond his control.

"Andromeda, how old is that transmission?" Dylan asked.

The vidscreen came alive with the holographic form of the ship's computer. "That message is approximately twelve hours old. It is very possible their life support has already failed."

"What's the probability that they could've gotten off the drift or received any assistance from anyone else?" Beka asked Andromeda, curiosity and concern lacing her tone.

"It is probable but unlikely. This is not a highly traveled system and the transmission was of poor quality. Only someone in the system would have been able to detect it."

"And if you're a Nietzschean, and hitting a small drift, you're going to cut off the escape routes. Such as destroying any ships docked there." Beka answered herself then let loose a low whistle. "We going?"

"Plot a course," Dylan ordered.

"You do realize we will be a little more than fashionably late to the grand opening of the new Commonwealth training facility, right?"

He winked at her. "Andromeda, ship wide please." He waited for the tell tale beep of the com that signaled that the whole ship would be listening to his address. "This is Captain Hunt, we are taking a detour from our original destination of Mobius, to answer a distress signal from the Natasi Drift. All crew, take action and be ready for a rescue mission."

Within minutes, Tyr, Rommie and Trance stood on the bridge. Dylan waited impatiently for his genius, but time-challenged engineer. Soon they heard the thud of his heavy boots and the door opened to reveal his tired visage but ever-spiky hair.

"Next time, a little more promptness would be appropriate, Mr. Harper."

He looked apologetically at the captain. "Sorry, I was having nano-welder issues."

"Harper, you always have issues." Beka quipped, trying hard to lighten the mood and trying to deflect any unnecessary questions toward her engineer. Since his trip back to Earth, and the increasing episodes related to the magog larvae, Beka knew he had not been himself and knew that there had been no trouble with the welder. She took a quick look at Dylan's stern face and muttered a subdued "sorry."

"Andromeda, replay the message."

Again, the woman's strained voice permeated the air. "This is the Natasi Drift requesting immediate assistance. Hit by Drago-Kazov. We require medical and engineering aid. We are facing imminent life support malfunction. I repeat we are facing imminent life support malfunction. If you can hear us, please help."

There was a solemn silence before Trance spoke. "I'll go get med deck ready." She didn't mention if she was getting it ready for survivors or as a morgue. She surmised it would be best not to mention the second option though they all knew it was a possibility.

As the door swooshed, announcing Trance's departure, Tyr spoke.

"You are aware, sir, that this message makes little sense."

Beka looked up from her quest to map the quickest route to Natasi. "What part didn't you get, Tyr? It was in plain enough Common."

He ignored her biting comment and addressed Dylan. "Why would the Drago-Kazov hit an insignificant drift so far outside their space? It is absurd."

"That is a mystery I intend on finding out. Think about it, Tyr, any information we can gather on the Dragans will be an asset to us. We are at war."

Tyr's features hardened but his voice remained an even measure. "Precisely, sir. And this is some kind of cleverly engineered trap that you are blindly walking into. And I will have no part in it."

Dylan half smiled. "Objection noted." He looked up from his consol, directly at the dark Nietzschean. "But we're still going."

Two short slipstream jumps later, the Andromeda was staring at the Natasi Drift. If fully operational, it would have resembled most drifts, with a circular design and several docking stations, a bustling way station in the middle of blackness. But, now, it sat, eerily quiet, while debris floated around it, unable to escape the small gravitational pull. Scorch marks adorned the outer surface and several smaller vessels had broken away from their ports and were half hanging onto the supports. They looked more like parasites than spaceships.

"Wow, boss, these guys were hit hard." Harper announced into the silence while running preliminary scans. "They're running on secondary power. Life support is still up but there are several breaches in the outer walls and I can almost feel the AG field wavering from here."

Dylan could barely tear his eyes away from the sight before him. "Rommie, anyone still alive?"

The avatar ran a few scans before speaking. "There are still vital life signs emanating from the drift."

"Open a com channel." Though it was highly unlikely that anyone would be watching, out of habit, Dylan walked from behind the console and stared at the screen in front of him. He pulled himself up to his full height and unnecessarily straightened his uniform. "This is Captain Dylan Hunt of the Andromeda Ascendent. We have received your distress call and offer our aid."

Rommie looked up and shook black hair from her eyes. "No response."

He tried again. "This is Captain Dylan Hunt of the Andromeda Ascendent answering your distress call."

"A weak signal is coming through." Rommie transferred the signal to the vid screen.

It was a woman, in some type of uniform, standing tall despite her disheveled appearance and tremor in her voice. The signal was indeed very weak and the picture constantly wavered but at least the audio was clear.

"I am Chief Moriah Reston, head of Natasi security, and we are extremely grateful of your offer of assistance, Captain Hunt." There was a loud sound behind her and some shouting. She looked over her shoulder for an instant then whirled back around the screen. "As you can see and hear, we are in desperate need."

"What happened here?" Dylan asked.

"Attacked by Drago-Kazov. We were no match for their numbers and weapons." She pushed a strand of her short cropped blonde hair from her eyes as gracefully as she could. "As head of security, that is not easy to admit, but it is the truth."

Dylan just nodded and could almost feel Tyr's silent objection but decided a non-wavering person-to-person conference would be the best way to discern the situation.

"Chief Reston, you must understand that my offer of assistance is only based on the safety of my crew." Dylan punctuated the 'safety' aspect. "I will not send my crew to the drift unless I know it is secure. I am sure you understand."

She stiffened but otherwise showed no emotion toward the demand. "Certainly, Captain Hunt. Acting Chief Engineer Frank has assured me that conditions are safe for your crew but will not remain so without your help."

"Acting chief engineer?" Beka asked. "What happened to the original?"

"He was taken along with most of our engineering department. I would rather discuss that in private instead over an open channel."

Dylan nodded and set his lips in a grim line. "Acknowledged. I will have supplies and assistance at your disposal shortly."

Dylan looked over to Harper who scurried off to assemble his tools.

"We thank you Captain Hunt. Please, use docking station 4. It was not damaged during the attack." She nodded her head to the captain. "Reston, out."

Dylan sighed then looked over to his crew who had all been intently watching the exchange.

"Your opinion now, Tyr?"

The tall man crossed his arms, his bone blades sticking straight out from his leather braces, a pensive expression on his face. "It is…intriguing to say the least. Yet, with their much warranted dislike of all Nietzscheans at the moment, I think I'll watch from here."

Dylan shook his head, a small barely discernible smile tugging at his lips. Tyr could always be trusted to be Tyr.

"Nietzschean survival instincts." Beka voiced, hands on her hips. "Gotta love them."

"Just don't let them get in the way of saving us. Just in case this is a trap." Rommie added, a slightly distrustful look on her features.

"Of course. But if it is, I get to say I told you so," he replied, matching her glare.

"It's a deal." Then Dylan looked to his two lovely counterparts. "Beka. Rommie."

As Dylan crossed the bridge to the doors that would lead them to the hallways of the ship, Beka and Rommie followed, leaving Tyr leaning on his console and staring out at the remnants of the Natasi Drift.

OOO

So, good? not good? write more? please God stop writing? Let me know. Thanks.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thanks for the reviews. I know folks are squeamish about OC's but justtrust me on this. (IfI were slightly egotistical like Harper, I'd say, 'Trust in the fuzzytomato, The fuzzytomato is good.' But I'm not, so I won't)Hope you enjoy the next part.

OOO

With the Andromeda safely docked and the airlocks secured, Dylan and his small crew waited for the other side of the airlock to open. After an eternal minute, the doors slowly creaked apart to reveal several fully armed escorts but no sign of the woman they had talked with.

The security crew, dressed in black with black helmets and visors, stood in an imposing line, weapons raised.

Harper looked nervously over to Beka as he raised his hands in a surrendering gesture. "Remind me again, boss, as to why we are here?"

"Because we're the good guys," she answered her own voice cracking with anxiety.

"Did someone tell them that?"

Dylan shot them both a silencing look and stepped forward. "I am Captain Dylan Hunt of the Andromeda Ascendent. We are here to provide aid upon the request of Chief Reston."

One of the heavily armed men stepped forward and did a once over of the crew. "We will take you to her."

"How generous of you," Dylan remarked as the men fanned around them and guided them through the airlock door.

They walked through corridors, eerily illuminated only by emergency lights, stepping over bodies of Nietzscheans and of residents of the drift as they went. Soon they found themselves entering an open common area where most survivors seemed to have gathered. The residents clutched to loved ones and eyed the intruders suspiciously. Some even hid behind wreckage or in open ducts.

"Not very receptive are they?" Beka said.

Harper gingerly stepped around an overturned peddler's cart, odd metal bracelets scattered everywhere along with other wares. "Well come on, Bek, they were just attacked by Nietzscheans. Strong, ruthless, ubers who don't really care who they kill or who they take." His voice dropped and his eyes clouded as the memories of his Earth past and his most recent trip there seemed to surround him in the faces of those staring back. "They surprise you and then they go, leaving chaos behind."

Beka put her hand on his shoulder and she could feel the slight jump. "You ok?"

He seemed to shake the memories away and then gave her the patented Harper grin. "Fine. I'm good." But he hurt, in the pit of his stomach, and it wasn't just the Magog larvae.

Beka seemed to accept it, though a slight frown marred her features, and continued to follow the strange parade.

Shortly they were in the communications hub of the drift, the tall blonde woman from the message was there, pouring over a flexi. She looked up at their arrival and there was no mistaking the relief in her features.

"Captain Hunt," she said as she shook his hand in greeting.

"Chief Reston," he answered.

"Oh, please call me Moriah."

"Then call me Dylan."

Beka cleared her throat and both individuals shot looks over to her. "Excuse me," she said raising her hand, "I think pleasantries can wait. What the hell happened here?"

"Nietzscheans happened," the security chief sneered. "Drago-Kazov to be exact. They surprised us. Killed and captured at will. Then left."

Beka's eyes widened as Moriah echoed Harper's earlier statement. She looked over to him and noticed his complexion had paled significantly. Beka almost considered sending him back to the Andromeda.

Rommie surveyed the damage with a critical eye, as only an android can then eyed Chief Reston. "It is hard to believe they attacked without provocation, especially this far out of their space."

"Yeah, no offense but this is kind of the ass-end of the galaxy." Beka added.

Moriah's eyes flickered with anger for a moment then she sighed. She was just too drained to defend her drift from those offering aid. "Exactly why most residents have picked this place. We're trying to fly under the radar."

"Didn't seem to have worked," Beka muttered.

Dylan looked around at the destruction and did not let his apprehension or amazement at the brutality appear on his face. "You still haven't told us why they attacked."

"My theory. With all the recent uprisings on most of their slave planets, they needed to branch out. Replenish the supply that have escaped or that they have killed."

Dylan nodded. "Makes sense, but why here? You aren't exactly on the map of places to go."

"I don't know," she answered. "But we have some leads. I was hoping that maybe you could help with our investigation."

"It would be our pleasure."

"There is another issue," Rommie spoke. "Now that the Dragans know that you are here, it is very likely they may come back."

"Yes, I know. That is why I need you to help us be ready for when they do."

"We'll do our best." Dylan replied.

Moriah looked over the people standing in front of her. Only the captain looked Commonwealth. The others were out of uniform. They didn't salute and they seemed to have no military protocol at all. She frowned.

Dylan noticed the scrutiny. "This is my first officer Beka Valentine, my engineer Seamus Harper and Andromeda, the ships AI."

Her frown deepened. "You brought only one engineer?"

Dylan smiled. "He's a genius."

Moriah gave him a tight smile in return. "Victor," she called to one of the armed guards, "escort Mr. Harper to Frank."

Harper cast a look over to Beka, who nodded in return.

He stepped forward and almost reluctantly left his friends and followed the black clad security officer. He was led through corridors, trying to block out the images around him. It all felt like a joke fate had played on him and again his insides twisted.

He had started that revolt on Earth with some well spoken lies shouted from a rooftop. Singapore? Who was he kidding? Yet they had believed him. They had wanted to believe in anything, in anyone and he had played on that, offering something that he barely believed in.

Later, though Brendan had tried to salve his conscious by making a fire analogy, that was quite good, he still firmly believed he was the cause of the other slave planet revolts. And the Natasi drift was the direct result of it all.

How could one stupid made up speech that was mostly full of lies echo all the way out here? Some genius kludge's actions reverberate and directly impact the hundreds of people on this drift? People who were now just like those he tried to liberate on Earth.

Yes, one giant cruel cosmic joke.

The guard left him at a door to an engine room then turned and left as if he didn't want to be reminded of the precarious position their drift was in. As Harper walked through the battle-scarred door, he took note of the damage. Wires sprawled out of all types of compartments and some were melded messes. Tools lay thrown everywhere, most broken.

"Hello," he called. "I'm looking for Frank."

He stepped into the room further and saw a pair of black boots sticking out from a duct. He heard a loud noise and curse.

"Hello," he called again.

"Be right with you!" a decidedly female voice called back. He watched as a body slid out of the compartment and sat up.

She stood, brushing off her dark blue coveralls and pulling her safety glasses away from her eyes and resting them on the top of her head. She looked up at Harper, her nano-welder in hand and tucked a wayward strand of black hair behind her ear revealing a neural port.

"Hi," she greeted as she slipped her nano-welder back into the tool belt slung low across her hips. "I'm Josephine Frank."

"You're Chief Engineer Frank?" he asked incredulous staring at the girl.

She smiled. "Oh, it's the name. Throws everybody off. People hear Frank and imagine a balding middle-aged grease monkey." Harper smiled for the first time since he walked onto the drift. "And you are?"

"Seamus Zelazny Harper, super genius engineer of the Andromeda Ascendent, at your service," he answered while flipping his own nano-welder from his tool belt into his hand and giving her his best smile. Old habits tended to die hard, even when feeling lower than a Truvian Slug, especially when presented with a pretty girl.

"Oh my gosh! The Seamus Harper!" She said her eyes wide. "The Earther that did the Khali melon experiment with Technical Director Hohne?"

"The one in the same. But, how did you know about that?"

She crossed the room and pulled open a drawer overflowing with hundreds of flexis. His mouth dropped open at the sight of the horde and she gave him a sheepish grin. "I collect flexis. I know it sounds weird but we don't get much information out here and I can't bring myself to reprogram the good ones."

Harper nodded, fully understanding. Back on Earth, any information, however small, was vital to his and Brendan's survival. He allowed a small smile at the thought of his own collection of used parts he and Brendan had salvaged from junk piles and garbage mounds. The smile slipped away when he remembered that Brendan would never sneak into the Nietzschean compound again and steal their trash to make shrillers.

He watched as Josephine searched through a few, and from where he was standing he could see that most were about the slave revolts, until she found the one she wanted. She pushed a few buttons.

"Here!" she pushed it into his hands, the sleeve of her coveralls rising to reveal one of the weird bracelets Harper had seen earlier. "A trader brought some flexis from Sinti. I've read it over and over. It's absolutely fascinating."

Harper held it and looked over the information before looking up at his admirer. "You understand this?"

"Some of it. There are parts that are hazy."

"You're telling me. Some parts were a little hazy to me and Hohne too."

At that she laughed. "Wow, when they said we had help coming, I didn't expect it to be in the form of the best engineer in the known worlds."

Before Harper could reply they both heard another voice coming down the hall.

"Oh no! Don't swell his head any more than it already is. He might not be able to get back on the Andromeda," Beka said as she entered.

"Beka!" Harper protested loudly, "I'm…uh…what?…uh…no…" he stopped, composed himself, and flashed a smile to his new friend. "What my boss means is that I've accomplished so much in my short life that I get complements all the time."

Beka playfully punched him in the arm and the smile she wore was truly genuine. Finally, a glimpse of the Harper she knew and loved. Here he was, supposed to be working and yet he was hitting on the second female he'd met. Likely, in a week, he'd be back to his old self and every female they'd meet would get a pick up line.

"Yeah. Exactly what I meant."

"What are you doing here anyway?" He asked, slightly annoyed, while handing back the flexi to Frank.

"I'm just here to let you know that I'm helping Trance with the injured on Andromeda's Med deck while Rommie and Dylan are helping that Reston chick with an investigation." She looked between the two engineers and gave Harper a warning look. "You two…uh…get to work and behave."

"Yeah, yeah. Get to work," he yelled to the retreating Beka as she left the room. He turned back to Josephine. "That's all I ever hear."

"Well I guess we should. There's a lot ahead of us."

Harper looked around the mess of a room. "I can see that," he muttered. "So what have you got?"

Josephine beckoned him to follow, and as she turned from him, he could see that her hair was tied back in a thick black braid that fell past her hips. They passed through a door and she pointed to an undecipherable mess of wires.

"That is how we're still breathing."

Harper studied and examined it with his handheld scanner. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped for the second time in less than ten minutes. "This is…suicide. You have environmental systems, communications and defenses running off one generator?"

"Yep!" She replied smiling. "Best bit of cannibalizing and rerouting I've ever done."

He smirked. "Yeah, until it shorts out and the generator blows and we all die."

"Hey, it was either that or breathe my last and be reduced to my constituent atoms by the crushing blackness of space."

Smirking at her response, he looked around the smaller of the two rooms. "Where's the main life support and AG field generator? We should probably get to work on that first."

She turned and began walking back to the room they started in. "I've been working on it and as near as I can tell, there's nothing wrong with the generator itself but in the feed from it to the systems."

Harper scratched the back of his head. "Maybe a converter or a relay. With this mess, it could be the whole sub circuitry."

She looked over at him and bit her lip, trying to decide whether or not to let the truth slip out. Josephine figured it would come out sooner or later, better sooner in her opinion. "I have a little confession to make. The only reason and I say only with emphasis, that I have the title Acting Chief Engineer, is that I am the only, and again with emphasis, engineer left."

"Well, then. It'll be so much easier for me to impress." He reached into his tool belt and took out his own pair of safety goggles then readied his nano-welder. "Ready for some magic, baby?"

OOO

Dylan lay flat on his back underneath a communications console trying, in vain, to get at least one computer running at normal capacity. It was very hard to run any type of investigation when all video reports and communications records were locked in a computer that was currently out of commission.

"Rommie? Anything?" he called.

The android pushed a few buttons. "Nothing."

"Damn it," he muttered then hit the device hard with his fist.

Suddenly, it lit up and the screen came to life.

Rommie pursed her lips as she tried to hide a smile. "That worked. Scanning communications log now." She laid her hand on the computer and closed her eyes.

Moriah walked over when she noticed the consol was now up and running. "Captain Hunt, it looks to me like you're the genius." She offered him her hand to help him up and he noticed the bloody bandage wrapped around her forearm.

"You should have Trance take a look at that."

"It's fine. Doesn't even hurt anymore."

He took the proffered arm and once on his feet he looked over to Rommie, whose eyes were working furiously under her eyelids. "No, it's definitely Harper who is the genius. I just get lucky sometimes."

A sly smile spread its way across Moriah's lips but before she could reply, Rommie's eyes snapped open.

"Dylan, there were several communications from the drift to the Dragan ships before the attack."

Moriah's mouth dropped open and any traces of the smile disappeared. "Are you serious? Where did they originate?"

Rommie crossed her arms. "From engineering."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Again thanks for the reviews. I hope to be able to update every three or four days with a new chapter. This is quite ambitious though so it might change later on. I know this chapter is on the short side but I'm trying to break it up into coherent chunks. Hope you enjoy.

OOO

Harper and Josephine were silently working on their task, both knowing the gravity of the amount of work that lie ahead of them, and Josephine did not wanted to waste precious energy on talking. Harper, on the other hand, found the silence disconcerting.

"Could you pass me that inhibitor?" he asked while working on a set of circuits.

She handed it over and continued the work on the innards of a computer.

"Well this relay is shot. Going to have to bypass it." He said and looked over to his silent companion. "So…" he tried again, plowing on, "how come you're the only engineer that didn't get captured by the Dragans?"

"Just lucky I guess."

"Yeah, real lucky. It's been my experience that Nietzscheans don't give up too easily. In fact, it usually takes a genius not to get caught."

He waited a few minutes for a response and when none was forthcoming, he let out a loud sigh.

Josephine looked over at him eyebrow raised then deflated. "I'm sorry," she said, "I know these past couple of hours I haven't been miss conversationalist. But I'm exhausted. I haven't slept in nearly 36 hours and my drift was just attacked by stupid ubers who have stolen most of my friends." She looked down and away and Harper was almost ashamed for even bringing it up. "I have found that concentrating on work keeps my mind from concentrating on other things."

Harper looked down at the tool in his hand, and thought about how since his trip to Earth he hadn't been a great conversationalist either. In fact, he had thrown himself in his work as well. Maybe this was a sign that it was getting at least a little bit better. "I completely understand."

She sighed and set down her tool and smiled. "Look, I am going to fall asleep here, but I do have something that could help." It was Harper's turn to raise an eyebrow. "You have to promise not to tell though. I'm not exactly allowed to have it."

"Oh now, I'm intrigued."

Josephine went over to a consol and pried off the manifold. She slid in and disappeared. A moment later she was sliding back out, two cans of Sparky Cola in hand. She tossed one to Harper.

"Sparky, nice." He said while popping the top. "But why aren't you allowed to have it?"

Josephine opened her own and took a long swig. "Moriah says it's bad for me. Something about rotting the teeth and destroying the esophagus." She shrugged.

"Why does she have any say? You are old enough to make your own decisions, right?"

Josephine laughed at his obvious attempt of fishing for her age. "Of course. But see, my brother told Moriah that while he was gone, she was to look out for me. She kind of takes it to the extreme."

"Your brother huh? Is he on the drift? Do I need to be careful?" He asked, giving her a Cheshire cat grin.

"No, he's never lived here." She looked around at the wires, the metal and the artificial feel of it all. "He's not much of a spacer, more of a terra firma, organic kind of guy. I think he'd hate it here."

"Ah." Harper said smiling. "I get it now."

Josephine looked at him confused. "Get what?"

"Why you admire me. Why you have so many flexis about the slave revolts. You grew up a mudfoot too."

He watched amazed as the red filled her cheeks and she clenched her hand around the Sparky can. "I never said…I mean…that's not true! I didn't grow up on a slave planet!" She covered her mouth with one hand at her outburst and her wide eyes looked around to see if anyone else heard.

Harper lowered his voice and leaned in. "There's nothing to be ashamed of."

She leaned in as well and dropped the hand from her mouth. "You have to promise me that you won't tell anyone," she whispered back.

He looked into her blue eyes and noticed the liquid beginning to fill them. He had almost forgotten how it felt to be ashamed. For a long time after meeting Beka, he had been ashamed of his past, of where he was unfortunately born and had tried to hide it on most occasions. But it had faded. Even his most recent trip back hadn't brought up those feelings: sorrow, righteous anger and eventually grief but not shame.

"I promise." He leaned away and fell heavily back against the metal wall of the drift pretending not to notice her wipe her eyes with the back of her sleeve. "So where's he now?" Harper asked finishing off his cola and throwing in the general direction of the wastebasket, glad that he had gotten some kind of dialogue out of her.

When he looked back toward her though he noticed the sad smile she was wearing. "With the Devine, I hope, but honestly, I don't know." She shook her head as if it would clear away the sad thoughts. "Enough about me, you're a legend among us mud…" she cleared her throat, "I mean engineers. Tell me a story about Earth."

"Legend, eh?" He said smiling. "Legend, I can see that. So Earth, I've got a good one about a somewhat good looking genius, that would be me, and his rescuer, that would be Beka, and how in the end she became the rescuee and I became a legend as you so state."

OOO

"Well Trance, that was the last of them," Beka said as she entered Andromeda's med deck having just returned from checking the drift for anymore injured.

The purple alien looked up from her patient for a moment and smiled. "That's good," she said while injecting some nanobots. "Just rest now and let the nanobots work." The resident of the drift said nothing and just closed his eyes.

"Hey, uh, Trance. Can I talk to you for a minute?" Beka asked motioning for the purple girl to follow her into the corridor. Trance obediently followed.

"Yes, Beka?"

"Have you noticed something about your patients?"

Trance looked at Beka innocently and seemed to think a moment. "The fact that they are deathly afraid of us or that fact that they are all wearing bracelets over their right wrists and forearms?"

The blonde captain nodded. "That too. But look at the injuries. A broken arm here, a burn there. Don't you think if they were fighting Nietzscheans they'd be a little more banged up? At least one life threatening injury in the whole bunch."

"Well, there are all of those scary armed guys in black. Maybe they did all the fighting?"

Beka crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. "Do you see any of them in here?"

Trance looked over her shoulder at the few that she had treated. "You mean like they didn't fight them at all."

"Rolled over for them is more like it. I mean there are a few dead, but those must be the ones that did resist and the rest just gave in."

Trance looked back at Beka. "Like they are used to being obedient to Nietzscheans."

Beka crossed her arms and frowned. "Nietzscheans or someone else."

"You mean Chief Reston." Trance's eyes went wide with the implication.

"Maybe," Beka said shrugging.

"Do you think we should leave Harper alone over there with that engineer then?" Trance asked, again with an air of naiveté, and worry quite evident in her tone.

Beka's frown vanished and she gave Trance a silly grin. "I think Harper's fine. Chief Engineer Frank, she's a kid. You should've seen her. She was in awe of the genius that is Harper." At Trance's anxious look Beka amended her previous statement. "Yeah, that is kind of strange. Maybe I should go check on them."

Beka took one step back toward the docking bay and stopped when she heard the alarm claxons blare.

OOO

"Dylan," Rommie voiced as she looked over the surveillance video taken during the attack, "I think you should look at this."

He stepped up behind her as she replayed the footage. The Nietzscheans had already docked their ships, come through the airlocks and were roaming the corridors and common areas of the drift. They walked purposefully toward the engineering department, ignoring others who were in their way, and only shooting those that had shot first.

Dylan watched amazed. "They went straight for the engineers. They knew who they were coming for."

Rommie nodded. "My thoughts exactly."

Moriah, who was also watching the footage, paled. "So the person who sent the communications told the Dragans exactly who to take. Who the most trained and important people were."

"So we have messages sent from engineering, and all the engineers taken." Dylan said thinking out loud.

"Not all were taken," Rommie said.

Moriah looked at the android horrified. "No, Frank. Frank would never betray us. She's been here from the beginning. She's a close friend." The security officer bit her lip. "Unless…"

Dylan gave her a hard look. "Unless what?"

"Unless she did it for her brother."

"Who is her brother?" Dylan asked, confused and a little annoyed.

"Her brother is James Frank. He is the resistance leader on the planet Corelia Four."

Dylan looked over to Rommie for an explanation.

"Corelia Four. Class M slave planet in the Drago-Kazov empire."

"So he led a rebellion," Dylan said, "I don't see that as motive."

"But he was captured. Tortured. Supposedly dead. But what if he's not?"

" What if she made a deal?" Dylan surmised. "What if she gave them a highly trained group of engineers for the release of her brother?"

"And she had the attackers destroy the electrical systems on the drift to destroy the evidence," Rommie added.

"But why trust the Dragans? Nietzscheans aren't known for the acts of goodwill," Dylan asked, beginning his all too familiar habit of pacing while thinking.

Moriah shrugged. "She's naïve. Maybe they threatened her. Maybe she even believed them. I don't think her intentions were for anyone to get hurt." Moriah ran a shaking hand through her hair.

"Well, you know what they say. The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

Moriah looked at him, her face holding a lost expression. "She's a good kid." She looked down at the floor for a moment, and when she looked up all emotion was gone, a stoic façade in place. "She just didn't count on the Andromeda to be in the system to show up and save the day."

"Dylan, Harper is alone with her now. She might try to do something if she feels threatened or if she knows Harper can get the systems running so the evidence can be found," Rommie said with a slight air of unease.

"So now my genius engineer is alone with a suspected conspirator. Great, just great."

Dylan began walking to one of the corridors. "Let's go talk with Engineer Frank, shall we?"

He stopped mid step when the alarm claxons started going off.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Again thanks for the positive reviews. I'd also like you to review if you have some constructive criticism and don't necessarily like the story. Or even a review that say, "Hi, I read it," would be nice. So this chapter is pretty long and we're really getting into the meat of the story. Hope you enjoy. Thanks. fuzzytomato

OOO

"And that's how one genius engineer saved the Eureka Maru and thus saved the day," Harper said, finishing his story and one last weld on the circuitry he was working on. "So what do you think?"

Josephine hadn't answered. She stood in the other room, well within hearing range, staring at her earlier work that had kept them all alive. The wiring was overloading and starting to melt. With no breakers or relays, it wouldn't be long before the environmental systems started to shut down.

"Josie?" she heard Harper call. "I said, what do you think?"

"I think we're in big trouble," she answered.

Harper stood, confused and walked into the room. Turning the corner he saw what was happening. He also saw her move closer to inspect it; her right arm raised to brush aside some wayward wires.

"No! Don't!"

It was too late. Sparks flew and the charge from the blown circuit was enough to throw her backwards, right into his open arms. He caught her, barely, and they both fell to the ground, Harper's body a cushion. His head connected hard with the deck plate, hard enough to cause little dots to dance before his eyes.

Josephine lay across him, her eyes closed.

He gently grabbed her shoulder and gave a shake. "Josie? You ok, babe?"

"Fine," she answered, opening her eyes and flexing her fingers. She was glad to find that her hand and arm were only partially numb. "You?"

He cautiously felt the back of his head. There was a bump but no blood. "Ok, I think."

The young woman tried to push herself up but her right arm gave out underneath her and she fell right back onto Harper. "Sorry, but I think I'm seeing dots."

"You should be. That shock was enough to kill a grown Vedran."

"But not enough to kill a kludge," she replied, groaning a little as she rolled off of him.

Harper stood then helped her to her feet, throwing her arm over his shoulders and wrapping his around her waist. She was unsteady to say the least. "Ok, so we've established that we're both ok, generally speaking." He looked over to the sparking mass of wires that was slowly eating itself. "But not for long."

Alarms from all over the drift started their wailing and red lights started to flash in sync. The computer's cold unemotional voice came over the intercom.

"Twenty minutes until Environmental Systems failure."

"Harper, I…" she trailed off and her eyes rolled back into her head. She went limp and it was all he could do to keep them both on their feet.

"Oh no, come on." He arranged her in his arms and half-carried, half-drug her to the generator they had been working on. Kicking tools and instruments out of his way, he gently laid her down on the hard floor. Harper lightly touched her face and was rewarded with a groan and blue eyes slowly opening.

"Stay with me. Come on, we have to fix this."

Dylan's voice came over the built in com system. "Harper, what the hell is going on?"

"Well, boss, Josie's a genius but the jury rig she had created to keep us all breathing just overloaded and exploded."

"Can you fix it?"

"Uh, maybe. But I suggest a full scale evacuation."

"Suggestion noted. Get yourself out of there, Harper."

"Fifteen minutes until Environmental Systems failure."

"Give me ten minutes."

Dylan frowned at Harper's request but didn't have the time to argue. "Fine. But if you're not at the Andromeda in time…" he trailed off. Harper was smart enough to know the implications.

"Beka!" Dylan yelled over the com.

"I heard!" she called back. "Trance and I are on it. We've got some refugees on board and sending them to obs deck."

"Good. Rommie, Moriah and I are headed to the common area to herd them your way."

"Gotcha. Dylan, you better hurry."

Beka shepherded more scared refugees toward Trance's direction. "Move people. Get on the Andromeda." She looked toward the corridor that led to the engineering department. "Come on, Harper," she whispered.

Harper slammed his fist on the consol. "Come on! You should be working!"

"Ten minutes until Environmental Systems failure."

Josephine had managed to get herself into a sitting position and was handing Harper various tools. She wearily lifted her numb arm and pointed. "Harper, look."

His gaze followed the direction she was pointing and nearly kicked himself. He grabbed the loose connection wire and jammed it forcibly into the consol. Still nothing.

Harper kicked the initiator hard. Lights came on, buttons flashed and the telltale sound of a working generator whirled into life. "Yes!" He began to push certain buttons, but as suddenly as it came, it was gone. The generator slowed to a halt and lights winked out. "No! It makes no sense. It should be working."

"Five minutes until Environmental Systems failure."

That was it. He was out of time.

"Come on, babe. We're getting out of here." He pulled Josephine to her feet, and started heading for the door.

"No, wait! I've got to get something."

Harper turned them both around and led her back. She ripped open the drawer full of the hundreds of flexis and began frantically looking through them. The ones she didn't want she threw over her shoulder to get them out of the way. Finally, she found the most important one, and slipped it inside her coveralls.

"Now, can we run for our lives?"

"Yes."

OOO

Beka could see Dylan and Rommie at the back of the pack of refugees driving them forward.

Dylan reached Beka and turned around to scan the area. "That should be all of them." He noticed that Beka did not make a move toward the airlock and he only guessed what that meant. "Harper?"

"Not here."

"Harper, where the hell are you?" Dylan yelled into his com.

"Two minutes until Environmental Systems failure."

"Hopefully less than two minutes away!" Harper said forcing a laugh to keep himself calm.

He pulled his new found friend further down the corridor and was glad that she was getting a bit stronger with every step, taking more of her own weight.

"It's just around the corner," she said a little breathless.

They turned and Harper smiled at the sight before him. The beautiful open air lock with his friends standing there waiting on them, most with not so happy expressions on their faces but still his friends.

The two staggered into the airlock, both tripping over the last step and landing in a heap at the feet of various annoyed looks.

"Rommie, close the airlock," Dylan ordered once they made it inside. Rommie nodded then a strange look overcame her features. When no action was forthcoming, Dylan added, "Today would be nice."

She nodded again. "I…can't…" she began, "wait, got it."

The door slammed shut just in time for them to hear the cold computer voice announce that Environmental Systems had finally failed.

Beka leaned over her engineer, who was still on the ground and slightly grimacing.

"Harper, you hurt?"

He looked over to Josephine, who was also lying on the deck, trying to control her erratic breathing and cradling her arm to her chest.

"I'm fine," he said out loud while telling another story to Beka with his eyes. He grimaced again and his hand flew to his stomach.

She knelt down beside him. "Here," she said while picking up the device hanging around his neck and offering it to his lips. "Take this."

Harper did as he was told and breathed in the all too familiar medicine that was trying to keep the baby magog from hatching. He didn't know why he just didn't tell her that the larvae were getting antsy; after all, it was no big secret to the crew. But for some inexplicable reason, he didn't want the information shared amongst present company.

Well, the reason wasn't inexplicable. He kind of enjoyed the pedestal that Josephine had set him on, and baby magog festering in his gut was certainly going to knock him down a few pegs. Besides, she was having Uber issues, no reason to bring up the magog as well.

He closed his eyes for a moment and let the medicine work and he felt his little friends settle down. He then opened his eyes to find the impressive figure of his current captain looming over him. Harper gave him his trademark smirk and Dylan couldn't help but roll his eyes.

Dylan flicked his gaze over to the girl that had come stumbling into their midst and was quite surprised to find that Acting Chief Engineer Frank, supposed conspirator and traitor, was actually just a kid younger than his own genius engineer.

"Would one of you like to explain what exactly happened?" He asked, his High Guard training not hiding the exasperation that crept into his voice.

Josephine and Harper exchanged a look from their places on the deck.

"Well, Josie had this rig set up to keep the drift breathing…"

"And Harper had worked really hard but we couldn't get the main generator back…"

"Then Josie got shocked…"

"And I flew into Harper, who hit his head…"

"And she passed out…"

"And he still tried to fix the generator…"

"And she noticed the missing plug…"

"And he hit it and it came back to life for a second…"

They looked at each other again. "Then it died," they ended in unison.

Dylan blinked and looked over to Beka who shrugged, quite in awe herself at the rapid fire conversation.

"Oh, how's your head?" Josephine asked suddenly.

"I'm done seeing spots. How's the arm?"

"It still hurts a little and I don't think I'm done seeing spots…"

Moriah, who had been listening to the conversation and watching the interesting relationship forming between her engineer and the other, pushed her way past Dylan and walked up to the still sprawling form of her friend.

"I can tell you what happened down there," she hissed. She reached down and grabbed the lapels of Frank's coveralls and hauled her to her feet. Moriah then slammed the younger woman against the wall and pressed her forearm into Josephine's throat, restricting her airway and her speech. "She didn't want her treasonous actions to be found out and sabotaged the repair work. Well, it's too late. We discovered the transmissions that came from engineering. We saw the video of the Dragans coming for the engineers only."

Josephine just stood there, listening, thoroughly confused at the accusations while trying to push Moriah's forearm from her neck with her weakened right arm. Her arm throbbed and was useless against the other woman's stronger grip and her left arm was annoyingly caught behind her.

Moriah pushed her face so close that their noses were almost touching. "You aren't going to get away with it. You are going to suffer for your betrayal," she whispered menacingly.

Josephine started to gasp and though Moriah's words had partially sunk in, she was currently consumed with the task of getting a complete breath.

"Chief Reston, let her go." Dylan ordered when he realized the situation had gotten out of control. "Once we finish the investigation…"

"The investigation is over! She made sure of that!" Moriah yelled interrupting Dylan's voice of reason.

Harper was just as confused as Josephine, but knew that no person born and raised on a slave planet would ever give their friends over willingly to Nietzscheans, much less Dragans. He stepped forward.

"Hey, let her go! She wouldn't do that!"

Moriah tore her gaze from her struggling one time friend and looked toward Harper.

"So she's befriended you too. Be careful, you might be the next person she sells out."

"Dylan," Rommie began, adding her voice to the rising tide, "If you want a live suspect you might want to break this up."

Josephine was truly struggling for any bit of air she could pull in and before much longer would be passing out. Beka and Harper didn't wait for Dylan's go ahead before pulling their blasters and aiming them at the chief of security.

"Drop her," Beka commanded.

She scowled at the two but let go of her captive. Josephine slid to the floor and gulped in large breaths of air. Moriah ignored the loud gasping and coughing coming from the floor.

"I want her thrown into the brig and treated like a hostile enemy," she said, glaring at Dylan and pointing at the girl on the floor.

Dylan pressed his lips into a thin line and once again, his friends could tell his High Guard training was being tested. "You are on my ship and while on my ship she is considered a Commonwealth citizen and as such is allowed certain rights and privileges. One of them is innocent until proven guilty." Moriah opened her mouth to protest but Dylan plowed on. "You have hundreds of scared refugees on my obs deck and I suggest that you go and comfort them while I finish the investigation. Beka, please escort Chief Reston to her citizens."

Moriah gave Dylan a dark look but said nothing. She turned to go with Beka but heavy footsteps down the hallway stopped their departure.

Tyr turned the corner, obviously frustrated. "Ship," he yelled, "why have you been ignoring me?"

Rommie looked confused. "Ignoring you?"

"I have sent several messages over the com system for you to join me on the bridge. One of the stations has shorted."

"Tyr, we haven't heard any of your requests." Dylan added.

Rommie closed her eyes for a moment and did a scan. "There seems to be a glitch in the com system."

"Really?" Tyr said sarcastically.

Dylan closed his eyes for a moment and counted to ten. He wished he was back in his shower and reminiscing about his days on Tarn Vedra. He opened his eyes again and looked toward Harper who was kneeling next to his new friend. "Mr. Harper, go the bridge with Tyr. Find out what's going on."

"Sure thing, boss." But as Harper moved to leave Josephine's side she grasped his arm with a shaky hand.

He looked at her and noticed her breathing had become erratic again and that she had paled considerably. He followed her fixed, terrified gaze to Tyr and heard her frantic whisper. "Uber." She desperately tried to make herself small and unnoticeable, half hiding behind Harper.

"No, it's ok. He's a friend."

She tore her gaze from the menacing figure with the bone blades and looked at Harper like he'd gone mad. "Friend?"

Dylan and the others noticed the exchange. "Tyr, go to Command. Harper will be along shortly."

Tyr sneered and walked away, brushing right past Moriah who didn't even flinch at his presence.

Once gone, Josephine relaxed slightly but still was exhibiting signs of extreme anxiety. "You didn't tell me there'd be one on the ship!" she whispered to Harper accusingly.

"It's ok. He's a…"

"He's not your friend!" She exclaimed as loudly as her throat would allow. "No matter how nice they are, or how forgiving they seem they will find some way to stab you in the back, kick you when you're down. Nietzscheans will never be a kludge's friend!" Then realizing she had said too much, she looked down and away to avoid anyone's questioning gaze.

Dylan watched the reaction, the way her hand still clutched Harper's, the way her fear was palpable when Tyr entered the room and decided there was no way that this girl had orchestrated anything with the Dragans. Something was very much amiss on Natasi drift and now it had spread to his ship. He nodded for Beka to continue her task and once Moriah was out of earshot, he turned toward the pair on the floor.

"Mr. Harper, take Engineer Frank to the med deck and let Trance look at her injuries. Then join us on Command."

Harper nodded and helped Josephine to her feet then led her to med deck.

Once they were gone, Dylan turned to Rommie. "There's something rotten on Natasi Drift."

"Agreed," she answered.

OOO


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Thanks again for the reviews. To answer Nate's question, this is actually the first Andromeda fanfiction I've ever written. There might be another one at some point but I'm not sure. In this chapter, we find out loads about the folks on Natasi drift and some more about Josephine's brother. Hope you enjoy and don't forget to let me know if you hate it/love it/don't care. Thanks.

OOO

She sat on the bed, fidgeting, in the empty med deck and watched with wide blue eyes the purple girl's every move. She had never seen a purple alien before and watching this one, with the big brown eyes, blonde hair, and air of innocence, Josephine was slightly uneasy. She sensed something more hidden behind the unique yet beautiful exterior, like the feeling that this unassuming girl could guess her secrets or even pull them from her lips like they were childish stories and not the dark, rancid nightmares and agendas that they truly were.

Harper sensed her apprehension and instead of leaving her and going to command, as Dylan instructed, he stayed, babbling incessantly about the Andromeda, her crew and that Tyr probably got frustrated with waiting and shorted the station out himself just to have something to complain about.

Josephine only half listened and concentrated solely on the words that came from the alien named Trance.

"Well, it seems the shock didn't do much damage." Trance began after doing a quick scan. "Your arm might feel a little weak but that's to be expected. I'm giving you a shot of nanobots to help with the bruising and swelling around your neck."

"Uh, thanks." Josephine managed.

"You must be exhausted. I could give you something to help you sleep. The other injured have gone to the obs deck. You could join them there or stay here if you like."

"Uh, no thanks. I don't want to sleep in the open like this especially with…" she trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence and perhaps offend them both. Maybe, they truly believed that the Uber was their friend but she wasn't about to trust him. "I…I'm sorry. Even on the drift, I didn't like sleeping in my bunk."

Trance gave her a kind look and again Josephine felt as if she knew something that hadn't yet been spoken.

"Do you mind if I speak to Harper, alone for a few minutes?"

Trance gave her a half smile. "Not at all." She cleaned up her few supplies and left the room.

Harper jumped up next to her on the table and gave her his patented grin. "You know, anything you say to me, you can say in front of Trance, Beka, Dylan and Rommie."

"Yeah, I kind of guessed that," she said softly, still staring at the door that Trance had just walked out of.

Harper waved a hand in front of her fixed gaze.

She turned and gave him a sheepish grin. "Sorry, I've never seen anyone purple before."

"Yeah, I had never met anyone like Trance before either. Beka calls her a lucky charm. She even had a tail once."

Josephine raised an eyebrow. "What happened to the tail?"

"Battle wound. We get a lot of those." He shrugged and sighed. "But that's what you get when you run around with a crazy three hundred year old idealist who is trying to rebuild the Commonwealth. It's like we have a big red target painted on our hull." He fixed her with a penetrating blue gaze that pinned her to the spot. "But I don't think you wanted to talk about the crazy adventures of a super genius and a purple girl who used to have a tail."

Again, he watched as the red filled her cheeks and she looked down and away from him in shame. She remained silent for several minutes, thinking of the best way to relay what she needed without giving all of her secrets away. She only needed to tell him enough to clear her name.

Harper hated awkward silences and usually avoided them by plowing through them with a quip, pick up line, joke or sarcastic remark. In any other instance that he was alone with a pretty girl, he would have gone with the pick up line possibly followed by a joke. Yet this time, he remained silent. Besides, he had been feeling awkward around most everyone since his trip back from Earth. What was a few more moments of it anyway?

Finally, she spoke.

"I want you to know that I didn't do what Moriah says I did. Though I was more worried about breathing when she was talking, I know she accused me of selling out the drift to the Dragans. I would never do that." She looked back up at him and met his eyes to punctuate her statement.

"You should probably be telling this to Dylan. I'm just the young handsome engineer. He's Captain Terrific, and sorry, but he's not just going to take your word. You'll have to tell him about growing up on the…planet."

"Harper, I didn't just grow up on a slave planet. I was a…" she trailed off, unable to say the word. Instead she rolled up the sleeve of her coveralls on her left arm and showed him the incriminating mark. There on the underside of her forearm marring her beautiful white flesh was an ugly burned scar in the shape of the Drago-Kasov pride emblem.

He took her hand in his and for the first time noticed the scars that were scattered along her skin. He knew he should say something, but his voice was lost, his mind reeling as he stared at the brand. Harper was saved from having to speak when she continued.

"I imagine Corelia is much like Earth or like any other Nieztschean conquered planet. They gathered us up like animals, sent us to the mines. My brother, James," her voice hitched at the name of her brother but she kept going. "He was the only family I had left alive and when they caught me, he could've run, but he stayed. I was ten."

"The mining process released awful fumes and the Nietzscheans wouldn't go near them so they sent in the kludges. I got sick," again she stopped and swallowed the sob that caught in her throat. "I almost died."

Harper managed to tear his eyes away from the symbol and looked at his new friend. The tears streamed from her eyes as she relived the horrors from her childhood. He knew he was getting the abbreviated version much like Beka had gotten when he first arrived on her ship. The rest of his story had been drug out over years, when she caught him crying in a feverish nightmare, or when he would let something accidentally slip from his mouth when his defenses were down. Maybe, one day, she would tell someone the whole story, the beatings, the fear, the despair, but for now, she just needed to tell enough to convince them she didn't contact the Dragans.

"But you didn't." Harper pressed.

She shook her head. "My brother must've been beaten by every guard while he begged them for medicine. He would come back every night with bruises and whip marks. I felt so guilty…" she trailed off for a moment and wiped her cheeks with her sleeve. Unconsciously, Harper squeezed her hand, offering encouragement. It seemed to help for she took a deep breath and continued.

"One day a high ranking Nietzschean woman walked by and heard his pleas. I don't remember her visit at all. I just remember waking up in a real bed, inside an opulent house, surrounded by Niets. It seemed the woman had always wanted a pet kludge and she became my mistress. I didn't have to go back to the mines but I was still a slave, just in a different way."

"I didn't see my brother for years. I thought he was dead until one night, he broke into the mansion, and smuggled me onto a ship headed for Natasi. He wouldn't come with me. I tried, I begged him but he said there were others to save. That was almost a year ago."

She opened her mouth to add more but the memories overwhelmed her and she dissolved into sobs. Harper did what Beka had done for him countless times. He wrapped his arm around her, pulled her to him and allowed her to cry.

He wondered if she had ever permitted herself to mourn. Then suddenly, he realized that he hadn't even given himself that luxury when he lost Brendan, his last family. A slow tear leaked from his blue eyes and tracked down his face, finally splashing into her hair.

"I know it's hard when someone else gives their life for you. It's hard to feel as if you deserve it. All you want to do is make them proud but even your best falls drastically short of their sacrifice."

Josephine pulled her head up from his shoulder, her own sorrow forgotten when she heard the pain filled statement. She studied his serious visage. His jaw was clinched, his eyes laden with watery regret and she knew that he was battling his own demons. "But you have," she whispered.

He only half thought she was listening. In fact, the spoken words were more for his benefit than hers so he was surprised when she answered him.

She straightened and looked him into the eye. "You escaped. You are saving people, rebuilding the Commonwealth, bringing order to chaos. You're a genius. If you weren't worth it, how can any of us be?"

How did she know just what he needed to hear? They were the words of someone who had been there. They were validation for a kludge; a kludge that couldn't save his parents, his cousin or his home world but had saved and could save others. Others like her.

"You're beautiful and brilliant," he answered.

She smiled through her tears and before he knew it, their lips met in a kiss of shared pain and scattered nightmares.

Her lips felt wonderful. She tasted divine. He needed this. He wanted this and warmth filled his being at her touch.

He was being drawn in, wanted to be drawn in.

The magog, however, objected. He abruptly pulled away, gasped and clutched his side. It felt like one had landed a swift kick to his kidney. Hastily, he grabbed at the chain around his neck and sucked in the medicine.

"Are you alright?" Josephine asked, wide eyed and apprehensive.

He nodded as he closed his eyes and tried to ride out the pain. Finally, the larvae stopped moving and he took a deep breath.

"Geez, what timing! Can't I get some alone time?" He said exasperated, directing the comment to his stomach that had just interrupted a promising make out session. He turned his gaze back to the very confused girl. "Sorry, I'm….sick." Her eyes got wider. "Don't worry. It's nothing you can catch...yet."

She gave him a quizzical look but he was saved from explaining when the door to med deck opened. A very annoyed Dylan entered, followed by an equally annoyed Beka and a rather calm Rommie.

Harper gave them a sheepish grin when he realized he hadn't quite made it back to Command as Dylan had ordered. His grin widened when he also realized he still had his arms wrapped around an embarrassed Josephine.

Quickly, he dropped his arms and nonchalantly scooted away from her.

"Sorry Boss, I was trying to get a confession," his voice rose slightly at the end of the statement, just enough to alert everyone that it was a lame attempt at an excuse.

"Straight from her lips, right Harper?" Beka asked.

Josephine's head snapped up at the blonde's comment. She narrowed her eyes and cut her gaze over to Harper.

He slapped his hand to his forehead. "Didn't engage privacy mode," he groaned.

"We heard and saw," Rommie added, clearing her throat, "everything."

He patted Josephine on the back, her face hidden in her hands again. "It's not all bad. At least, they know that you wouldn't have contacted the Dragans."

Dylan stepped forward; absolutely exasperated with his engineer and the entire situation they had landed themselves into. For more than the first time that day he was wishing he had taken Tyr's advice. Well, almost.

"Harper, haven't you noticed? They're all…"

"Slaves," Josephine interrupted. "Everyone on Natasi drift is a refugee slave from Corelia Four. I'm sorry to say I'm not the only one."

Beka crossed her arms, her mood almost matching Dylan's. "I think it's time you start telling us the whole truth."

Everyone expected the young engineer to shrink into herself more, to try and hide, but Josephine was quickly running out of 'meek.' However, there was an abundance of 'righteous anger.' She jumped off the medical table and confronted them, fists clenched, breathing fast, as if she was about to fight a Nietzschean. The change in demeanor was so quick it took everyone by surprise, especially Harper.

"Fine! You wanna know the whole truth? We're all slaves! Every last one of us, even Moriah. We escaped because my brother sacrificed his life."

She reached for the other sleeve of her coveralls and rolled them up to show them the bracelet.

"Underneath this bracelet is a tracking device. The Nietzscheans were so hell bent on not venturing into the mines that they implanted one into every one of us so they could watch us scurry around on their little computer screens. If you tried to take it out, it sent a lethal shock through your system so you died on the spot. If your little dot stopped moving, they sent a shock to get you to get back up and get to work. If you didn't, they came, hacked off your arm and harvested the technology to implant in some other poor unsuspecting kludge."

She stopped for a moment, took a breath, and then started to pace like someone who had so many secrets that maybe she could outrun them if she moved.

"But my brother, he's so smart and a leader. He realized that the farther down into the mines the slaves went the less of them showed up on the screens."

"The ore," Rommie stated, "it blocked the signal."

Josephine nodded. "They started making bracelets and handing them out. They even blocked the shocks. I…I don't know how he did it, but he made a deal with a trader to take us offworld."

"But he wouldn't come with you," Harper said softly, still sitting on the table and staring off into space, remembering Brendan's refusal of escaping.

"No, he wouldn't. But he set Moriah up to be our leader. She's forbidden us to ever take the bracelets off, just in case some Uber ship passes by and picks up a signal."

"Uh, question?" Beka asked, raising her hand in a questioning gesture. "How'd they not miss a couple hundred of slaves?"

"Unfortunately, there are thousands on Corelia. They honestly didn't miss us."

Dylan had heard all he needed to, except one vital fact. "Where's your brother now?"

At the question, the fire that had burned in her extinguished. She physically deflated, her shoulders slumped and the exhaustion she had been keeping at bay finally overwhelmed her. When she looked at them, her eyes empty, her posture defeated, they didn't see a traitor or conspirator just a scared, exhausted kid who missed her brother.

"He's dead."

She reached into her coveralls and pulled out the flexi she had made Harper turn back for when the drift was in imminent shutdown. She held it almost lovingly, stared at it, and then handed it over to Dylan.

The crowd gathered around him, even Harper left his perch on the table and Dylan turned it on.

It blinked into life and they stared at a man who had the same black hair and blue eyes as Josephine. He was holding a gauss gun and looked bruised and bloody. There were loud explosions, screams and groups of slaves fighting right behind him, but he remained calm as he spoke into the flexi.

"My name is James Frank, leader of the slaves on Corelia Four. We heard the shot that Earth took, and we are responding. If Earth can rise up and fight, so can we! We refuse to be slaves, mutts, kludges. We refuse to be worthless. So we fight and die for our freedom. This is our chance! This is our time! We entered the world free, and so shall we leave it!" He turned his head, looking off in the distance at something beyond the flexi's view. He turned back to the flexi. "They're coming. I love you, Josephine."

The face of courage blinked out.

OOO


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: So I'm on a roll so that's why this chapter came much quicker. It's the reviews, I'm telling you. They're like fuel for the fire. This chapter answers the question of who did it but also opens up another whole can of worms. So again, I hope you enjoy and thanks for all the great reviews.

OOO

They were on Command, having restricted Josephine and Moriah to different quarters. Harper was wedged beneath the Weapons station, trying to fix the short while the others were gathered around a screen watching what little information they had about what took place on the drift. No matter how many times they watched, the vid never changed and no one could get a new perspective on the matter.

After watching it for the tenth time, Dylan turned to his purple crew member. "Trance? Anything to add?"

She shrugged her shoulders and gave him a half smile. "Ask again later?"

Dylan rubbed at his eyes and tried in vain to stifle a yawn. It had been a long day.

Though Harper tried hard to concentrate on his work, he couldn't shake the images that ran across his mind. The flexi that Josephine had showed them was almost identical to the one he had of Brendan. The sentiments were the same, the violence in the background, and the call for freedom. The only difference was the person.

His hand slipped and he pinched his finger. "Damn it!" he yelled.

"Harper, you ok?" Beka asked.

"Just peachy!" He sighed then amended his statement. "Sorry, I'm tired."

"We all are." Dylan stated. "It's been a trying day. Let's all go get some rest and resume in the morning."

The group dispersed. Harper slid from underneath the station, and started gathering his tools.

"Mr. Harper, may I have a moment of your time?" Dylan asked as he approached.

"Sure," was the laconic answer.

Dylan cleared his throat and Harper noticed he looked thoroughly uncomfortable. "I think it would be best if you didn't engage in any extracurricular activities this evening."

Harper was so stunned, his nano-welder dropped from his hand. "What?"

"I don't think it would be wise since we still don't know the entire situation. I think emotional detachment would be the best route."

His mouth hung wide open, his brain trying to process what his captain had just said to him. He bent down slowly to pick up his tool, allowing time for the right response to come to him. Well, his brain finally did give him a response, though it might not have been the correct one.

"Oh, I get it," he started, annoyance dripping from his words. "Since she's not interested in hopping into your bed…"

Dylan put up his hands in a defensive gesture. "Harper, that's not what I mean…"

"Whatever, Dylan. Like you should be giving advice on the subject and I don't care what the rest of you think but I don't have the monopoly on misjudgment and mistakes."

He turned to go, anger coursing through him, but he only got two steps.

"What the hell does that mean?" Dylan yelled at the retreating figure.

He whirled around, emotions that he had been holding inside for what seemed like ages, threatened to spill over in a torrent.

"They died because of you! They believed in me! I trusted you! But you left them there!"

"Harper, you know that I had to make a choice."

"Yeah, you picked the Nietzschean fleet over a bunch of kludges!" He took a breath and he allowed his voice to calm before speaking again. "You said we won because of the slave revolts that started popping up everywhere. Well, guess what? Her brother is dead because of our supposed 'win.' And it didn't change anything! Earth is still in tatters. Corelia is still a slave planet. The only thing that's different is the thousands of people that are dead. "

"Harper, listen…"

"No, you listen! They're dead because you hold more allegiance to Elssbett than you do to me. Well maybe I hold more allegiance to someone who knows about the hiding, the hunger, the beatings, the fear and shares the same scars I do not some high guard fossil who grew up on Tarn Vedra and doesn't wake up at night to his own screams. Maybe, for once, I understand the situation better than you. So don't lecture me on emotional detachment!"

Again, he turned but Dylan didn't stop him this time. He marched off the Command, heading for his quarters. Yet, he found himself going toward Josephine's. He stopped in front of her door, wondering whether to knock or keep walking by.

Rommie appeared beside him in her holographic form.

"She's sleeping, Harper, and has been for hours."

He nodded and kept walking.

OOO

Josephine awoke with a start, a scream from her most recent nightmare dying in her throat. She quickly looked around, taking in everything and it all came flooding back into her slowly awakening mind. She was in crew quarters on the Andromeda Ascendant not back on Corelia, not property to her mistress and certainly not being beaten for insolence.

She breathed a deep sigh of relief.

She sat up in the bed, swung her feet over the side and anxiously listened for footsteps coming down the hall. When she made sure there was none, she decided she better get to work. Moriah would kill her for actually falling asleep.

"Andromeda?" the engineer called.

There was no answer and a small smile graced her lips.

She took a neural jack from one of her many pockets, slipped it in her port and went looking for a jack. Upon finding one, she hooked in.

She easily found the room where they had restricted Moriah. A quick flip of some code, and the restriction was off.

Rifling through her own pockets again, she found the small communication device she'd been carrying since before she was brought on board. "Hey, Moriah," she whispered into it.

"About time you contacted me," her voice floated back.

Josephine rolled her eyes. "Sorry, the virus is taking longer than I expected." No sense in telling her that she had actually fallen asleep. "Internal sensors are down and your door is unlocked. Feel free to move around."

"Thanks. How much longer until we have complete control?"

Josephine closed her eyes and scanned her virus code. How she loved being jacked in and being able to see the streams of information whizzing by her. Her neural port was the only good thing that came out of her enslavement.

"A few hours. Hey, be careful. Don't get caught."

"What and ruin your hours of good work? By the way, your performance on med deck was truly inspirational. You have that Harper fellow eating out of your hand."

"Yeah," she said smiling, remembering the kiss. "But beware of the purple girl and the uber. I haven't quite figured them out yet."

"Are you giving me orders? How quaint."

Josephine couldn't help but feel the guilt gnaw at her insides at the thought of truly betraying her new friend. "Moriah, have you thought that maybe we could just ask Dylan…"

"Have you lost your mind?" The voice came back harsh and unforgiving. "Do you think Dylan Hunt, Captain of the last Commonwealth ship would willingly lend us the Andromeda so we can go blow the ubers off Corelia?"

"I was thinking…"

"That's your problem. You thought. Don't screw this up kid! You stick to the plan. Or by the Devine, I'll let your old mistress know where you are."

Josephine's heart constricted in her chest. "Ok, ok. Don't worry."

"No wonder James just let them have you. I honestly don't know how he put up with you as long as he did."

A tear slid down Josephine's cheek at Moriah's mention of her brother. She violently turned off the com and stashed it back away a small part of her hoping that Moriah would run into someone while she was sneaking around the ship. Then their plan would be revealed and she could stop the lying.

Though, she hadn't actually lied. Everything she had told them thus far hadn't been a fabrication. She was just leaving out parts of the truth.

She closed her eyes and leaned against the metallic wall letting her mind search the Andromeda's files for anything interesting. She found something labeled "Mission files" and settled down for some light reading.

Hours later, she had just finished reading about Harper's fiasco with a Perseid and a bounty hunter that had been quite entertaining when there was a knock at the door. She quickly pulled out the jack from her port and the wall and stashed it away in her pockets and scrambled to her feet.

She was expecting Harper but when the door opened Beka was standing there, a tray of food in her hand. "Thought you'd like some food," Beka said, offering the tray to the girl.

She was about to turn it down when her stomach rumbled loudly reminding her that the day before she had only drank a Sparky. "Thanks, that's nice of you," she answered taking it and setting it down on the table in the room.

"Mind if I come in and talk?"

Josephine shook her head and sat down at the table. Beka followed but chose not to sit.

"Look, I know that you and Harper have some sort of connection. You're both engineers, you're both from…interesting…situations."

"But?" Josephine offered.

Beka smiled. The kid was smart and knew where the conversation was going. "If you hurt him, I swear that I'll kill you and they won't find the body."

Josephine paled and swallowed hard. Two threats, from two different sides, and it wasn't even noon yet. "Understood."

"Good. As long as we're on the same page. Enjoy breakfast." Then Beka walked out, the door closing in her wake.

OOO

Again, they stood on the bridge, mulling things over and trying to decide just what the hell to do with the refugees and just what to do with Moriah and Josephine.

"So…" Beka began, "to sum up we have about two hundred refugees, all ex-slaves, sitting on our obs deck. We have a Chief of Security who is hell bent on killing the only suspect in a conspiracy plot. Said conspirator swears she hasn't done anything and is absolutely terrified of Tyr. And we have a dead brother, who somehow is motive." She stopped and looked at the others. "I'm confused."

"So I am," Tyr said, exasperated. "As to why we're still sitting here next to a dead drift. I say we take them to Mobius, drop them all there and let them sort it out among themselves."

"Yeah, and if we do that, Josie will be dead in an hour," Harper added, while he still tried to fix the shorted station.

"Child, your romantic entanglements are of no concern to me."

Harper jumped up from his position on the floor, brandishing his nano-welder. "Hey, if another person so much as mentions…"

"That's enough!" Dylan yelled; his own patience stretched to its breaking point.

Trance, who had been quiet for the discussion, suddenly spoke up in her calm soft voice. "Dylan, didn't Frank say that they were forbidden to take of their bracelets?"

"Yes."

The purple girl bit her lip. "Well, I was just thinking of when I took Moriah her breakfast this morning; she had a bloody bandage on her arm. I asked if I could look at her for it and she got quite defensive. I was only trying to be nice. Maybe, she took off the bracelet and contacted the Nietzscheans?"

"There you go!" Harper interjected. "See, it was hostile security chick all along. She let the Niets find them, sold out her engineers and is trying to pin the blame on the innocent good looking genius. It happens all the time."

Tyr turned away disgusted. "Maybe in Beka's holonovels," he muttered.

Rommie rolled her eyes and ignored Tyr's comment. "Harper, you're missing one thing."

"Yeah, what's that?"

"Motive. Moriah has no motive for contacting the Dragans."

Harper started to pace. "Motive, motive, I'll give you motive." He ran a hand through his hair causing it to stick up and out even more than normal. "Ok, motive. She was in love with Josie's brother, but he wouldn't leave the planet and then he made the flexi before he died he said 'I love you Josephine,' not 'I love you Moriah.' She got so pissed, she cracked."

Beka sighed. "Now that is the lamest thing I've ever heard."

"Fine! We'll vote. Who thinks that Moriah did it?" Harper enthusiastically raised his hand. Trance joined him, though almost timid about the decision. "Ok, that's two. Who thinks Josie did it?" Beka, Rommie and Tyr raised their hands.

Dylan didn't move. He was looking at his divided crew and the solution struck him.

"They're playing us."

As soon as the words passed his lips several things happened at once. Rommie's eyes rolled back into her head and she crumpled to the floor. All the screens on command blinked out and the lights dimmed throwing them into semi-darkness.

The doors to command wooshed open revealing Moriah with a blaster followed by her armed escorts in black, waving weapons at the four standing crew members, followed lastly by a slightly smiling Josephine who was admiring her handiwork.

Tyr looked over to his astonished captain. "I told you so," he deadpanned.

OOO


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Here's chapter 7. It's short but it does have more twists than a roller coaster. I apologize in advance since it's not really all that good. I'll work harder on the next bit. Promise. Cross my heart even. So again, tell me if you hate it/love it/don't care. Thanks.

P.S. Harper's analysis wasn't so far from the truth…

OOO

Moriah stepped up waving her blaster wildly and ordering her escorts to surround them at the same time. "Drop your weapons," she ordered the crew.

Tyr sneered. Beka smirked and Dylan kept his hand near his force lance, ready to pull it at any second.

"Typical," Moriah muttered. She walked over to Harper, placed her blaster at his forehead. "I'll kill him."

Josephine left her position by the door and walked behind Moriah. "She'll do it. She's killed more important people than Harper and hasn't batted an eye."

"Frank, your commentary is not needed. They know I'm serious."

They did. They each dropped their weapons and they clanked harmlessly against the deck.

Moriah nodded toward Harper. "Your tool belt. Drop it."

Harper gave her a murderous glare, his blue eyes glowing with anger and embarrassment, wondering how he had fallen into their trap so easily. He slowly unbuckled his most prized possession and let if fall to the floor.

Josephine walked past the group, keeping her eyes averted and went to the shorted consol that Harper had been furiously working on earlier. She took a jack from her pocket and logged into the station. Soon, it was the only thing emitting light on the whole deck.

"Frank, where do you want them?" Moriah asked her gun still trained on the group.

Josephine didn't answer, just raised her arm and pointed to the back corner of Command. Moriah and her security squad herded them over to that corner. Suddenly, a force field came down around them on all sides.

"They're contained," Josephine said from her station. "They can't get through that field."

"Good, let's get to work then."

Dylan had been silent for about as long as he could. "Get to work doing what?" he demanded.

"Isn't it obvious, Captain Hunt? We're stealing your ship," Moriah said, laughing.

"Borrowing. We're borrowing your ship," Josephine corrected as she worked on the consol. She looked over to the group who were all sending her hard stares except Harper who avoided her gaze all together. Guilt ran through her for a moment, but she squashed it, something all slaves had learned to do with their emotions. "We'll give it back."

"Pray tell, why are you borrowing it?"

Josephine flinched at Tyr's voice, still very much afraid of him though he was behind a force field. "We're going to free Corelia."

"This isn't the way. We could help you. We could free Corelia together." Dylan offered, hoping to hit some spark of reasoning with the young engineer.

"Just like you freed Earth, right?" She pulled her gaze from her work and sent a level stare toward the Captain. "I read your mission files. Good plan by the way. Let the kludges revolt then all die because you go back on your promise. Then let other kludges get it in their heads that they too can put up a resistance to the Ubers. The Ubers are so busy murdering, torturing these idealists that you can let the other Ubers build up their fleet. Masterful."

"Hey, you don't know what you're talking about!" Harper yelled, his anger fueled by her bitter speech. "You weren't there!"

"You ever throw a rock into a pond, Harper? You know what happens?" she asked, her voice low but forceful. "Ripples. Just because I wasn't there doesn't mean your rooftop speech of lies didn't affect me. I'm standing here because of you."

Harper would've responded except he didn't have anything to say. His guilt over the entire Earth situation overwhelmed him and he just slumped to the floor. He felt Beka's reassuring hand on his head but it didn't do anything to salve his conscious. In fact, it actually made him feel worse to know that he had someone to comfort him but Josephine was on the other side, alone.

Her distractions gone, Josephine made quick work of taking over the ship. She closed her eyes and felt the virus that had disabled the AI and all the old Highguard codes. She smiled and the lights and screens came back to life on Command.

"We have internal sensors, guidance, slipstream, defenses, communications, weapons and external sensors."

"How?" Dylan asked.

"Virus," Josephine answered nonchalantly. "It came through your airlock. You really should be more careful who you dock with."

"Suggestion noted," he answered sarcastically.

"Moriah, I'm setting a course for Corelia. We should be there within…" She trailed off as she heard the telltale sound of a blaster being charged in her direction. Surprised, she looked over and found herself staring down the barrel at Moriah's gun.

"Change of plans, slave," Moriah said smirking. She hit the buttons on a nearby station and allowed the external sensor readings to be displayed on the main screen. Josephine's eyes widened at the multiple slipstream events that were happening within light minutes of the Andromeda's bow.

"Ubers," she whispered, horrified. "You contacted them?"

Moriah nodded. Suddenly the ship pitched beneath them. "And that's them docking with the Andromeda now."

The look of utter betrayal on the young engineer's face broke Harper's heart as he watched from behind the containment field.

"They didn't just find us on Natasi, did they? You called them."

Upon hearing Josephine's exclamation of surprise, Dylan leaned over to Tyr. "Didn't we know that?"

The young engineer turned to face them. "No, we let you believe that one of us called them to distract and confuse you while the virus worked but we didn't. They found us and threatened to take everyone back unless we cooperated. They needed engineers to help with their fleet. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few so we told them who to take and they promised to leave the rest of us alone." She whirled around to face Moriah and the gauss gun. "Right?"

Moriah shook her head. "Wrong. You really are too trusting."

Josephine's voice dropped to a whisper. "You used the tracking signal…"

"Now, that's correct. Maybe you are smarter than I gave you credit for. Except for the fact that you fell for all of it. I found out that James was still alive. I contacted them. Made a deal. The engineers for him. I was hoping they'd grab you but unfortunately for me you never gave up your habit of sleeping in the conduits."

Josephine swallowed; shocked to find that her brother could still be alive and dismayed that she had inadvertently allowed Moriah to hand them all back over to the Dragans. "Then I made the virus."

"Right. I knew that if I told you that we'd commandeer whatever ship answered our distress call, and go free our home world, that you'd fall for the noble cause. You and your brother were always such saps."

"But it was the Andromeda that answered the distress call." Dylan finished.

"I just couldn't let this chance pass by. Not only will they reward me for giving them the Andromeda Ascendant, the most powerful ship in the universe but they'll also get Dylan Hunt, wanted for war crimes, Tyr Anasazi, wanted for the theft of Drago Museveni's remains and Seamus Harper, wanted for inciting the revolt on Earth." She let out a happy sigh. "They'll give me my freedom and my own private resort."

"I thought you loved him," Josephine whispered, still unable to process that Moriah would betray her as she did.

"I did. But he didn't love me. Instead of coming with me, to be free so we could truly love each other, he gave up his bracelet and his spot to you! With his supposed dying breath he professed his love for you! Not me!" Moriah advanced on the younger girl, her blaster arm never wavering. "You left the mines! You lived in a mansion! The ubers loved you and they beat the rest of us!"

Josephine took several steps backward and found herself pressed against the force field she had made to keep the others in. "I was as much a slave as you were!"

"Liar! You weren't in the mines!"

"Do you think I liked it?" Josephine half sobbed. "Do you think I liked being paraded around as someone's pet? Do you think it was easy to bite my tongue, keep my eyes lowered and watch my actions all day, every day? Do you think I liked sleeping at the end of someone's bed? Do you think I liked it when she let her sons…" she trailed off when she heard footsteps coming toward Command.

The door slid open and Moriah allowed herself to look away for a split second.

Josephine, seeing her chance, dove for the consol. She frantically punched in codes and one by one the systems went down. She grabbed her heaviest tool and was bout to destroy the station when she was grabbed from behind and restrained. She struggled, kicked, punched but they held her fast and she found herself pinned against the wall.

Slowly, she allowed herself to look around. Twenty Dragans were on the bridge with heavy weapons. While she was attempting to destroy the consol, she hadn't noticed that all of Moriah's security force had been killed by the Nietzscheans, apparently realizing it meant slavery for them as well they had attempted to fight back.

She had managed to lower the force field, allowing the crew a few seconds of freedom to fight but once again they had guns trained on them and were standing in the corner, hands raised.

Fear coursed through her and the sight of so many Ubers. But she didn't know true fear until an all too familiar voice sliced through the eerie silence that had settled on the bridge.

"Ah, Pet. So good to see you again."

OOO


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Thanks to everyone who is reading and leaving reviews. I'm glad you like it so far. In this chapter we get a look at the Nietzscheans, some more Harper angst and even some minor Harper owies. After this chapter, there will not be an update until after Christmas since I'll be traveling. I hope this tides everyone over for a week or so. Enjoy!

OOO

Harper was furious. At Josephine. At Dylan. But mainly, at himself.

He should've picked up that virus. He should've seen the signs that something wasn't entirely right. But he had been so blinded. Blinded by the situation. Blinded by a pretty girl. Blinded by his remorse.

His supposed genius had failed him this time and it really did seem that he held the monopoly on bad judgment.

Then he had witnessed Moriah's betrayal and his feelings changed.

He was still angry, but now it was directed toward the large Nietzschean that was strutting around the deck, his long black coat billowing behind him, admiring his new prize and occasionally eyeing the crew and Josephine who was still pinned to the wall. His bone blades protruded from leather braces and from the leather vest he was wearing, Harper could see he was almost as muscular as Tyr.

Harper stood there, seething, his hands raised in surrender but his mind working every scenario to try and get them out of this mess. As he looked around at his friends, he knew they were doing the same thing.

Finally, after patting Moriah on the head and telling her that she was a good kludge, the large Nietzschean with the blonde hair and striking green eyes stepped toward the group of hostages.

"Allow me to introduce myself," he began, "I am Osiris out of Nefertiri by Claudius, Drago-Kasov Pride." He stepped up to Dylan. "You must be Dylan Hunt, former Captain of the Andromeda Ascendant. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

Dylan smirked. "I hope you understand why I can't return the pleasantry."

"Yes, yes, of course. I wouldn't be able to either when standing next to the superior warrior especially when he had just captured my ship."

"Superior warrior?" Tyr interrupted, laughing. "If I'm not mistaken, you used two slaves to garner your ill-gotten prize. Your actions reek of weakness."

Osiris moved away from Dylan and stepped up to Tyr. He was shorter than the dark Nietzschean but almost the same in mass and muscle. "You must be Tyr Anasazi." His green eyes glittered with anger. "Kodiak pride. Right? An entire pride wiped out from existence. That is what reeks of weakness to me."

Tyr growled and Osiris smiled.

"But you do bring up an interesting point. My little kludges." He crossed the bridge and grabbed Josephine from the two that were holding her against the wall. "You've met, Pet of course." He manhandled her back over to the crew. For her part, she didn't resist.

Osiris wrapped her arms around her and pulled her to his chest, while making her stand in front of the crew. He caressed her hair and only Harper noticed the barely perceptible flinch every time he brought his hand up to her face.

"Pet has done such a good job for me and she didn't even know it." He leaned in closer to her and whispered into the shell of her ear. "Mother has missed you as well. She's here, you know, making herself comfortable in the crew quarters. We'll reunite the two of you soon."

A shiver went up Josephine's spine.

Harper boiled at the familiarity between Osiris and Josephine, knowing the connotations it held and remembering that tortured line about her mistress's sons she had let slip earlier.

Osiris gauged the reactions of the Andromeda crew and found them most interesting. They all eyed him with a cool gaze, and kept their faces as neutral as possible. Except the purple girl who had worry etched all over her features. But the one that interested him the most was that of the little blonde kludge who smelled of death.

He met Harper's piercing gaze.

"Hmm, increase in heart rate, adrenaline, clinched jaw, and he's staring right at you, Pet. I wonder what that means."

Josephine had kept her eyes lowered but briefly looked up at Harper's visage. "He hates me, sir," she said softly.

"Hates you?" He clucked his tongue. "Well, that doesn't matter now." He roughly grabbed her chin and forced her to meet his eyes. "All that matters is my opinion and I think you've done an excellent job. I also think that you need to go see Nefertiri. She'll be most pleased to see you and will get you out of these rags you're passing off as clothes. Then you'll come back and help me finish taking over the ship. Sound like a good plan?"

"Yes, sir," she answered softly.

"Good, good," he purred. He pushed her into the arms of another large Nietzschean. "Oh, almost forgot." He grabbed her arm and pulled down the sleeve revealing the bracelet. He examined it, noticed that in the year she had worn it, it had become almost part of her skin. "You won't be needing this anymore."

He grabbed the edge of the bracelet and ripped it off along with a large chunk of flesh.

Josephine yelled in pain and sank to her knees. Tears sprang into her eyes and rivulets of blood ran down the length of her arm, splashing onto the deck.

Harper took several steps forward, fury running through his frame, but Beka grabbed his arm and shook her head. Now was not the time. There were too many of them and Harper would only get himself killed.

A Nietzschean grabbed the collar of Josephine's coveralls, hauled her to her feet and literally dragged her off Command leaving a trail of blood in their wake.

With his pet gone, Osiris surveyed the crew once more. He pointed to Beka and Trance. "Take that one and that one down to the brig. The other three stay up here."

The Nietzscheans went into action, two of them grabbing both Trance and Beka and escorting them off the deck. Others crowded in on Harper, Dylan and Tyr. They pushed them over to the wall, and pulled out large magnetic clamps.

One roughly grabbed Harper's arm and squished it against the wall and placed the clamp over his forearm. The Dragan pulled out a small device, pressed a button and a small red light lit up on the clamp, signaling the fact that a large magnetic pulse was now pinning Harper's arm to the wall. They did the same to his other arm.

Once he was secured he risked a glance over to his companions. They too were pinned to the wall by their arms but also by their legs. He guessed that they thought he didn't warrant the leg clamps. For once, he was glad he wasn't as big as Tyr and Dylan.

OOO

Hours had passed. Harper's hands had become numb from being held up by the stupid magnetic clamps. His patience was wearing thin as he watched the big ubers stomp around his ship, whack at things, pull wires out of places that wires shouldn't be pulled out of and perform a whole manner of other actions that would make any good engineer flinch. Yet, he stayed silent, even when a few Niets had come over and taunted him, as he was trying his hardest not to garner unwanted attention.

Tyr and Dylan had ignored the taunts as well.

They were actually delighting in the fact that the Nietzscheans could not get any system to respond to them. In fact, the both of them were almost smiling at their failed attempts to get just sensors working.

It was almost like a playground. Harper was trying very hard not to attract the bullies while his two friends were almost daring them to come over.

He sighed softly and tried wiggling his fingers for what felt like the thousandth time. It sent unpleasant twitchy, tingly like sensations down his arms and he immediately stopped trying.

Harper grimaced as he watched a Niet bang on consol and swear at it a few times before giving up and moving on. He tried very hard to stifle his laugh.

It was easy when he realized that only Josephine would be able to fix the mess. She had invented the virus. She could control it. But where was she? Why hadn't they brought her back up here to fix it?

He knew she couldn't fix it from anywhere else. After hours of being pinned to the wall and watching the bumbling Ubers, he had figured out that the virus was originating from the 'shorted' weapons station. It was the only one working at the moment, and he remembered watching her try to smash it before she herself was pulled away from it.

That station was the key.

But where was she? What had they done to her? If one of them so much as put a bruise on her…he trailed off on that thought. Wait, wasn't he supposed to be mad at her? She had used him to get what she wanted. Though he knew that she never told him a bold faced lie, she had manipulated him.

And boy did he fall for it.

Yet, he couldn't be angry. He had tried the same approach only a few days before. He wanted to free his home world, blast the ubers off from space with the Andromeda and finally rescue his last remaining family but it meant manipulating the masses. He had done so, thinking that the ends would justify the means. However, he didn't get his end. His attempt had failed. And so now had Josephine's.

Another joke by the universe at his expense.

His train of thought was abruptly stopped when the door to Command slid open. He strained his neck to see if they were bringing back Josephine but was surprised to see a tall, stately, Nietzschean woman walk through the door. She was dusky skinned, dressed opulently, and bore a striking resemblance to Osiris.

It was Josephine's mistress, Nefertiri.

Harper watched as Osiris greeted her affectionately and looked behind her to see if Josephine was following. When she didn't appear, he frowned.

"Mother, where is Pet?"

His mother kept walking past him, heading for the three pinned to the wall, almost ignoring his question. "She is indisposed," she finally answered.

Osiris's frown deepened. "Mother, what have you done?"

"I have inflicted the standard punishment for run away slaves."

"Mother, I need her to work. She's the only one that can give us this ship!"

She turned her icy green glare on her own son. "I needed her to respect me. I'll not have her leave us again. I have worked too hard for her to become yet another ignorant kludge." Nefertiri kept gliding across the floor until she was standing directly in front of Dylan, Tyr and Harper.

She stopped and gave them all a critical eye. "Which one of you is Harper?"

"Who wants to know?" Harper quipped.

Quick as lighting, she slapped him across the face. "Insolent child!" she snapped. She turned back to Osiris. "I want him sent to my quarters, immediately." She turned, and left the bridge as quickly as she had come.

Osiris looked at Harper and the blood tricking from his split lip. "You will go and do what she says. Then you will bring Pet back to me, ready to work! If you don't, I'll kill that purple thing down in the brig as well as the pretty human. Do you understand?"

Harper met the cold gaze unflinchingly. "Yeah, yeah I get it."

Osiris, not happy with the reply he received, gave Harper a quick punch to the ribs and another to the stomach. He grabbed the young human's throat and stepped up so close, Harper could feel his breath skirt across his skin.

"I know you care for her, mutt. You've tried gamely to hide it but I know. If you don't do as I say, I'll hurt her, over and over again, and make you watch. Do you understand?"

Harper's stomach churned at the insinuation. "Yes, sir."

A quick nod from Osiris was all it took for Harper's hands to be freed and he was escorted off the deck.

OOO


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: It's short. I know. I'm sorry but it's the holidays so you can cut me some slack. The Beka and Trance bit was inspired by Benesound and Grayangle. Special thanks to Lyekkablack whose reviews keep me going. Hope you all enjoy. Thanks.

OOO

Beka sat on the not so comfortable bed in the brig, leaned her head against the wall and sighed. It had been hours since Trance and herself had been 'escorted' down there and she was getting just a bit tired of looking through the slats in the door and listening to the big Nietzscheans bragging about their conquest.

It was maddening.

Especially with Trance sitting cross legged on the floor, looking contemplative but being so patient.

Beka sighed loudly again and Trance gave her an innocent look, complete with purple smirk.

"Is there a problem, Beka?"

"No, not at all. I enjoy sitting in the brig while the ship is being taken over by Dragans," she answered, the sarcasm all but dripping from her words. "How can you be so calm?"

"Because I know there is nothing I can do besides wait," Trance said folding her hands into her lap.

Beka pulled her knees to her chest. "There's always something we can do. Run around. Create a diversion. Get naked. There has to be something."

Trance said nothing and merely smiled.

Beka looked at the purple alien, sitting so demurely in the floor, not bothered by their current situation and it hit her. She dropped her legs from the bed and leaned forward, whispering. "You know something," she accused.

Trance's smile dropped and she looked away. "I might."

"Ok, spill it. What do you know?" The girl squirmed underneath the scrutiny. "Oh come on, you can tell me." Beka added smiling as sweetly as possible, desperately wanting any information she could glean.

"Well," Trance began hesitantly, "I can say that if this were one of your holo-novels, you and I don't play that big of a part."

"Oh," Beka said surprised, the smile disappearing from her face. It grew again when another thought struck her. "So it's Dylan right? He's got a plan."

Trance slightly shook her head.

"Tyr?"

Again, Trance shook her head.

Beka's mouth dropped open, the implications hitting her like cold water. Their lives rested in the hands of one insane, genius, scheming engineer with experimental hair.

Trance shrugged her shoulders at the look on her former captain's face and gave her an apologetic smile. "Sorry Beka, but this is a Harper story."

OOO

A short walk and a few more bruises later, Harper was literally shoved through a door into a well decorated room. Though he had never been in these crew quarters before, he knew that they hadn't been this ornamented. Nietzscheans apparently moved pretty quickly once they had staked their claim to something.

At his arrival, the tall Nietzschean woman who had slapped him, looked up from her reading and gave him a feral smile. She stood, eyeing him and slinked over.

"She whispered your name," she stated simply allowing her eyes to sweep every inch of him.

Harper felt like he was on a slave selling block, barely able to hide the shivers that were traveling up and down his spine.

"I have no other slaves with me at this time and I need someone to tend to her injuries. I don't trust my son to do so." She swept past him, heading for the door. "Her clothes and supplies are on the couch. You have two hours."

Then she was gone.

Harper gulped wondering why he would need all of two hours to get Josephine ready to work. What had they done to her? And where was she?

He stepped further into the quarters, in awe again at the quick decorating. Where regular deck plate had been was now covered with fur rugs. Where there had been just bare wall now hung silk wall hangings. He marveled.

Stepping off the rug, his boot slipped out from underneath him on something slick. He looked down and his insides twisted when he realized it was blood. In fact, there was a whole trail.

He followed it with his eyes and noticed that it disappeared into a corner that was beside the couch and underneath one of the wall hangings. He walked toward the corner and pushed the silk out of the way, his heart in his throat at what he'd find there.

There she was, lying on her side, curled into a ball, barefoot, stripped to the waist and shivering. Her back was to him and he stared in horror at the thick red lash lines that crisscrossed her bare skin, openly bleeding.

He cautiously knelt down beside her, scared that no amount of doctoring would ever allow her to work again. For his own benefit, he allowed his fingers to gently brush the skin of her arm to make sure it was warm and not the cold feeling that came with death.

"Don't touch me," she hissed and curled into a tighter ball, a soft groan escaping her lips when the action pulled on her injuries.

He pulled his hand back, not wanting to cause her any further agitation and silently chastised himself for his action. He should've known better. It was the natural reaction for anyone who had just been whipped, beaten or woken from a frightful nightmare. He knew that first hand.

"Josie," he whispered softly, his own emotions threatening to overwhelm him, constricting his throat.

She slowly moved to look over her shoulder, her blue eyes clouded with pain. "Harper?" she whispered back, when her eyes met his.

"Yeah, it's me."

He noticed her bruised arms wrapped around her shivering frame in either an attempt at warmth or modesty. He took off his over shirt, a loud blue and red design, grimacing when the action pulled on his own bruised ribs, and gently laid it over her to cover her chest and stomach.

"Why are you here?" she asked as she gratefully accepted the shirt, but her voice wary. The last time she had seen him he had been staring daggers at her and it was quite obvious, to her at least, that he hated her.

"To make sure you're ok," he answered. Tentatively, he added a quiet, "How many?"

"Twenty." She allowed her head to rest on the deck either from exhaustion or remorse and broke her gaze with him. "I'm sorry," she replied. "I'm sorry for everything."

He could hear the tears in her voice though he couldn't see them. He could hear the regret, the bitterness. He wanted to comfort her, but couldn't find a place where he could touch her that hadn't been whipped or bruised, so he settled for words.

"It's alright, doll. We'll just have to find a way out of this."

"I can't. I'm destined to be a slave," she said softly, defeated.

"What if I told you that I don't believe in destiny?" Harper said. "What if I told you that I know for a fact that your brother doesn't believe in it either? No one is destined to be a slave. No one is destined to be whipped and beaten. There is a way out of this; we just need to find it."

"I'm glad you're so certain," she replied.

"Hey, as certain as a Perseid is about the complexity of temporal mechanics." He smiled when it garnered a small laugh. "Come on, let's get you out of this corner and start the scheming."

Very wary of her back, since he knew the feeling of lashes all too well, he helped to maneuver her onto one of the fur rugs. It would no doubt be warmer than the bare deck and would be much easier for him to tend to the lashes in an open area and not wedged in a corner.

Once lying on her stomach, her head pillowed on the borrowed shirt, she closed her eyes from exhaustion, and very carefully let her muscles relax. Her back literally felt like it was on fire and it was taking all her strength not to just give into the beckoning arms of fatigue.

Harper watched her, concerned, and softly nudged her. "You ok?"

She didn't open her eyes but responded. "Yeah, it's been a very long time since I was whipped. I'd almost forgotten how it feels."

"Key word being almost," he said while rummaging through the supplies Nefertiri had left him composed mostly of cloth. No hyposprays of pain killers and no nanobot injections to repair the tissue and prevent scarring. Of course not. She wanted her slave to know who dealt out pain and wanted the scars left as an ever present reminder.

And bandages would do no good, especially with the lashes still weeping. He knew that just from helping bandage his friends on Earth. The cloth would just stick to their skin and be agony when they had to change them later. Since they were on the Andromeda, with her nice clean air systems, there really was no risk of infection either. It was best they lay open.

The only thing he could really do was clean off the blood.

He took a basin from the table, went into the bathroom and filled it with warm water. When he walked back into the room, he thought she had fallen asleep.

Her whispered words proved otherwise. "You ever been whipped?" she asked softly, the question slightly slurred and he knew utter fatigue and pain would be taking over soon.

He sat beside her on the rug, dipped a piece of cloth in the water and carefully ran it over her back. The cloth stained red almost instantly. "Yes. I wouldn't say it was one of my proudest moments."

"What did you do?"

The bitter memories came flooding to him and he gamely tried to lock them back away. It took him a few minutes of warring with his subconscious and his soul but he managed to regain composure with only a single tear escaping.

"We really should be talking about how we are going to get the Ubers off the ship," he said, steering the conversation away from himself.

She managed to open her eyes and Harper noticed they were glassy with pain. "Honestly, Harper, how long did it take you to learn all of Andromeda's systems?"

He cleared his throat nervously. "Weeks," he answered.

"Exactly. I can control the virus but all I can do is either turn the ship over to the Niets or have the virus eat itself. Both ways, they have control. And there's no way I can learn how to do anything in the VR matrix in the span of time they're going to allow me to be in there."

Harper sighed. She was right. And he knew there was no way they'd let him help her. Unfortunately, the Ubers weren't that stupid.

"I'm sorry," she said softly when she caught his look of despair. "Maybe if there was some kind of training mode that I could use real quick to learn some basic…" she trailed off when his expression changed from one of obvious defeat to one of absolute joy.

"Training mode! Josie, you're a genius! I have a plan!"

OOO

love it? hate it? don't forget to let me know.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: So here's the next bit. Thanks for all the reviews. We're getting close to the big action so I hope you're all out there in suspense. I don't have much else to say so…Enjoy!

OOO

Harper sat on the rug while Josephine still laid, the two discussing the intricate details of Harper's plan. Though no internal sensors were working, meaning no one could actively listen to their conversation; Nietzscheans had highly evolved hearing, so the two were forced to lean in very close to each other and whisper, not that either of them minded being in close proximity to the other. The more they schemed and discussed, the more invigorated Josephine became and the tiredness seemed to melt away though she would still grimace in pain when she moved or when Harper touched a particularly tender spot.

It worried him.

"Our two hours is almost up. Do you think you'll be able to pull this off?"

"I've had to work in worse condition." She looked at her bare arms wincing at the bruises and the bandage Harper had wrapped around the wound on her wrist. "I'm just mad they ruined my favorite coveralls."

Harper picked up two pieces of gold fabric that Nefertiri had left and gave them a quizzical look. "Well, she said she left you some clothes…" he trailed off, trying to figure them out.

"Slave clothes," she muttered. "Since I was a pet I was always dressed in really fine fabric to show off just how rich they were."

Harper gave her a playful leer and a nudge. "You going to need help with those?" he asked his voice more nasally than normal, his eyebrows raised suggestively.

She gave him a glare and a smack on the arm. "I'll be fine. Just turn around."

"Hey, just thought I'd offer," he said, turning away from her but staying well within reach just in case.

It only took a few minutes for a pain-filled gasp, and alarmed call for his name to cause Harper to turn around and catch the falling Josephine.

After managing to pull on the ankle length skirt made of gold filmy material over her hips, the shirt was too much for her sore arms and back. The ensuing pain made her vision blur and she would've fallen if she hadn't managed to grasp hold of his arm and heavily lean into his body.

He was extremely careful where he put his hands finally resting them on her hips.

"Whoa, whoa, I got ya. Just lean into me."

She struggled for a moment, trying hard not to completely have to depend on him but since he was offering, she allowed her head to fall to his shoulder, her hand weakly grasping his bicep while her other hand gamely tried to keep the cloth covering her.

"Sorry, I just got dizzy," she said.

"It's ok, doll. I kind of expected it."

After a few moments of silence, and Harper very aware of the nearly naked girl leaning into him, and with no forthcoming instructions Harper cleared his throat nervously. "So, uh, what do you need me to do?"

"Just tie the strings," she answered, her voice muffled by the fact her face was buried into his shoulder.

He scrutinized the cloth and realized it was actually a shirt made to tie around her back with three sets of strings. With fumbling nervous fingers, he tied the first set around her neck, the next around the middle of the back and the third encircling her waist. He tried to make them as loose as possible, so as not to aggravate the lash marks, without jeopardizing any modesty. Though after looking at the outfit with a skirt that rode low on her hips and slits up the sides and a shirt held together by three strings, he was pretty sure the intent of it had very little to do with modesty.

On second thought, maybe he would make those knots a little tighter.

"Harper, just in case our little idea doesn't work the way it's supposed to, I want to tell you something."

Josephine waited a moment for his reassuring protest to interrupt her, but one didn't pass his lips. Obviously, he either knew that she would silence him or he knew of the probability of their plan working just the way they hoped was very low. She hoped it was the former but didn't fool herself into thinking the latter wasn't an option.

"I just wanted you to know that what I told you on med deck was the complete truth and not some lie I told you to get you to trust me." She pulled her head from his shoulder and looked into his eyes. "I truly believe that you were worth the sacrifice." Before he could respond and before the shocked emotional expression could leave his face, she leaned in and lightly brushed her lips across his.

He wanted to echo the sentiment, tell her that she was also worth every ounce of blood her brother spilled for her. He wanted to pull her in close again and taste her lips like he had done on med deck. He wanted to hold her, comfort her and be comforted by her but he didn't get the chance. The door to the quarters slid open.

Both were expecting Nefertiri but it was Osiris who witnessed the curious scene. He saw their physical touch, smelt the blood mixed with desire and heard both their rapid heart beats. He let a slow feral smile grace his hardened features.

"Am I interrupting something?" he asked as he stepped further into the room.

Josephine immediately dropped her hold on Harper and took a step back from him. Her eyes lowered, posture penitent, she answered him with a slight stutter. "N..no, sir."

Harper, for his part, said nothing but refused to lower his eyes and actually pulled himself to his full height.

"Oh, I think I am."

He stalked around the pair, giving them an amused smile before coming to a halt behind Josephine and facing Harper. He allowed his eyes to roam the slight figure, noticing his mother's punishment on her back and arms.

Again, Harper burned at the familiarity of the gaze.

Osiris stepped up close behind her, grasping her left wrist and pulling it up so the brand of the Drago-Kasov under her forearm was easily seen by all. "Do you know what this means, mutt?" He asked addressing Harper. "Here, I'll give you a demonstration. Pet," he barked, "who are you?"

Josephine swallowed, her throat becoming suddenly dry at having to repeat the phrase that was beaten into her the first week she had become their personal servant. "I am the property of Nefertiri Saladin and her offspring."

Osiris patted her head. "Very good. And whom do you serve?"

Her cheeks burned red with shame at the question. She flicked her eyes to Harper for a brief second, seeing the tortured look on his face and she felt her spirit sink to the floor. For all of his encouragement and faith, this one question, this one thought had made all the talk of destiny and freedom vanish. The question held a double meaning that was obvious to all in the room and she couldn't help the tear that rolled from the corner of her eye as she remembered the first night, when she was only a teenager that the second meaning became apparent and turned into a hated part of her slave mantra.

"I serve my mistress, her sons and any Nietzschean they deem fit."

The big Nietzschean smiled at her humiliation and Harper's outrage. "So you see, mutt, there was nothing in there that says 'and dying kludges.'"

Osiris roughly pushed Josephine into the hands of the other Nietzscheans at the door. "Take her to command so I can have my ship." His gaze cut to Harper who was valiantly trying to hide all the emotion that was running through his frame. "The kludge and I are going to have a talk."

OOO

Dylan's patience was wearing thin. It had already been tested within hours of arriving on the drift but adding Nietzscheans to the pot and the ship's subsequent capture had stretched it to its breaking point. But now, after hours of being pinned to his own ship's wall with unrelenting clamps and watching said Nietzscheans destroy various components on his command deck he was so annoyed that he couldn't handle it much longer.

He was at the point that he could very well do something stupid. It was really the only plan he had.

At least they didn't have control of Andromeda's systems. That was the one good point in the whole mess.

He risked a glance at Tyr who was pretending to be asleep or he hoped he was pretending. They had been ignored for quite some time.

What he really needed was Osiris. He obviously wasn't an alpha or he would've introduced himself as such and this whole elaborate plan was some way to better his standing within the pride or within his family. Maybe, Dylan could taunt him into releasing him in some way. Then he could get to his force lance that was across the room, maybe activate internal defenses…

"You'd die trying," Tyr said matter-of-factly, his eyes still closed.

"Huh?" was Dylan's less than articulate response.

Tyr sighed. "I know you're planning something in that devious mind of yours but you would easily die trying whatever it is. You are outnumbered twenty to one on this mere deck alone and we don't even know if anyone else is aboard the ship. There is nothing that you would be able to accomplish but meeting the Devine."

"And you're suggesting you would be able to accomplish something, am I right?"

Tyr huffed. "Of course. I have a knife in my boot. You are otherwise unarmed. I'd last longer than you, if I were stupid enough to try something."

Dylan rolled his eyes. "But your survival instincts dictate otherwise."

Tyr lifted his head and met Dylan's eyes for a brief instant. "I'd rather wait this one out and see what the little professor and his girlfriend have devised."

Dylan laid his head back against the wall and let out a world weary sigh. "You think they have a plan." It wasn't a question but a drained statement.

"I think, no, I know that neither one of them want to reenter the situations they were born into. Therefore, they have some method of escape brewing in their brilliant little minds."

"So, you'll let the kludges do the work and possibly die while you lounge away hanging from a wall and reap the benefits of their sacrifices. Is that it?"

Again, Tyr lifted his head and met Dylan's eyes. However, this time it wasn't a brief flicker of acknowledgement but a long intense gaze that bore into Dylan's soul. "Isn't that what you were accused of?"

Dylan opened his mouth to protest but the remark died in his throat when he saw movement and a small commotion over by the door. He watched as Josephine was led onto the deck by two towering Dragans. She was walking stiffly avoiding any superfluous movement wearing a rather revealing outfit and it made Dylan wonder where she had been the past hours.

She looked over at the pair on the wall, locking her gaze with Dylan and winked.

The movement was so quick and almost imperceptible that Dylan thought he had been hallucinating. But the small devious smile she also sent in their direction was enough to alert him to the fact that they did indeed have a plan. Maybe he wouldn't have to do something incredibly stupid after all.

The Nietzscheans left her to her work once they arrived at the consol. Josephine turned to begin her and Harper's plan and for the first Dylan and Tyr laid eyes on her back.

Dylan audibly gasped and Tyr growled at the sight of the stripes that laced across her back and shoulders some still bleeding, turning the gold fabric of her shirt to crimson. They both immediately looked back toward the crowd of Dragans by the door, searching them for any sight of their engineer, wondering and fearing what fate may have befallen him. If they were capable of whipping their favorite pet, what were they capable of doing to an enemy?

When no evidence of Harper could be found in the gaggle, they turned their attention back to Josephine. They watched as she stiffly lowered herself to the ground before plugging the neural jack into her port and allowing her consciousness to enter Andromeda's VR matrix. Her body went limp once her mind had fled into the blissful comfort of the machine.

OOO


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: In this chapter, the plan is finally revealed, there are Harper owies, more Dylan and Tyr interaction and a pissed of Andromeda AI. What more could you people want? Oh, an ending you say? Well, we're getting there.

So I just watched Day of Judgment, Day of Wrath and having never seen that episode I'm quite alarmed that a lot of my story seems to have stolen elements from that one. So, for clarification, when I began writing this fanfiction, I had only ever seen seasons 1 and 2 in their entirety and only a smattering of season 3, none of season 4 and very few season 5. Now, however, since my lovely husband has bought me the season 3 and season 4 dvd sets, I've worked my way through 3 and have yet to start 4. Therefore, if anything in my story feels 'ripped off' from certain episodes, then you have my apologies but I'm allowed to claim ignorance.

Well, enough of that, on with the chapter. Hope you enjoy!

OOO

Josephine entered the VR matrix, walking carefully, staring in awe at the bits of code that went whizzing by her as the Andromeda kept her vital systems running. The inside of the Andromeda was truly beautiful, just like her avatar and hologram, just like her hull and design; absolutely breathtaking. She walked further in, looking for the code that ran the weapons station. That would be where her virus had begun spreading and it would allow her to track it easily through the billions of streaming formulas and commands.

If it weren't for Harper, she wouldn't even know where to begin to look. But luckily for her, her super genius friend knew exactly where everything in the VR matrix was located. It was a testament to his brilliance.

It took her a while, but she finally did find the beginnings of her virus and tracked it to where it had the AI caged.

Josephine was startled to find a version of Andromeda, surrounded on all sides by restrictive code and glaring at her through the virtual bars. The hologram folded her arms across the front of her Highguard uniform. "You," she accused, "trapped me in here."

The young engineer raised her hands in a defensive gesture. "Look, I know you're upset..."

"Upset?" the hologram exploded, "upset is an understatement! I'm furious! I'm enraged! I'm a warship! You're lucky I can't get through this code or I'd fry your brain for even stepping foot in my mind!" Andromeda stepped forward, her palms pressed against the virus, her fury palpable. "What have you done to my crew?" she asked her voice low and vicious. "If you have hurt any one of them..." She allowed the threat to hang in the air for effect.

It worked for Josephine was quick to reassure her. "I haven't harmed a hair on any of them but..."

"But what?" Andromeda demanded.

Josephine bit her lip. "There are Nietzscheans aboard. After you were trapped, they came and took over the ship."

"You let Nietzscheans board me!" The AI pushed hard on the code as if trying to break through but it held her fast.

"Hey, I didn't let them on! Moriah did. It was as much as a surprise to me as it was to everyone else."

The Hologram paced, occasionally shooting intimidating glances to the traitorous girl. "What am I going to do?" she muttered to herself.

"You're going to do what Harper and I have planned."

Andromeda's head snapped up at the mention of her engineer. "If you expect that mentioning Harper would get you any leeway with me, you're wrong."

"I know it might be hard for you to believe but he told me to tell you something." She cleared her throat in an attempt to do a Harper impression. "Rom-doll, she's here to fix you, just like I would. Remember our promise? I fix you. You fix me. Trust in the Harper."

"The Harper is good," Andromeda finished. She eyed the girl and knew that there was no way she could've gotten that information unless Harper had told her. It could've been unwillingly that he divulged their promise but she really didn't have a choice. She'd have to trust her if she wanted to be free and find out the status of her crew. "So what is this plan?"

OOO

Harper was unceremoniously dumped at the feet of Dylan and Tyr. He had been drug onto command, his body hanging limply between two Nietzscheans, unconscious. They hadn't given Dylan or Tyr a second glance and they didn't even bother to restrain the bloody figure to the wall. They literally just dropped him.

"Harper," Dylan whispered harshly to his engineer.

There was no response. No movement. Not even a groan.

"Tyr?" Dylan asked.

"I can hear his heart beating," Tyr answered nonchalantly. "He is very much alive."

Dylan let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He took stock of his friend's injuries noticing the awkward angle at which his right arm laid signifying a nasty break, the swollen shut left eye and the blood that ran freely from his lips, nose and a deep gash right under his hairline. The crimson on his face and in his hair was a stark contrast to the paleness of his skin.

Then there were the injuries he couldn't see but knew were there. What if there were internal injuries? What if the beating had somehow affected the magog larvae? Seamus Harper could die at his feet if something wasn't done very soon.

"Don't do it," Tyr warned.

Dylan was a little unnerved that Tyr could read his thoughts so easily. "Do what?"

"Something stupid that could threaten all our lives."

Dylan looked at the boy at his feet and the girl not five yards away, both beaten, both bruised and bloody. Both very much undeserving of the Nietzschean brutality but also, he realized with a shudder, possibly very used to it. More used to it than a Highguard Captain that grew up on Tarn Vedra. Harper's accusations rung in his ears at the thought.

Maybe he didn't wake up to his own screams but he wasn't about to let the two youngest and fragile on his ship bear the brunt of the abuse alone.

"Hey, Osiris!" Dylan yelled across the deck.

The brute of a Nietzschean looked up from the flexi he was studying and gave Dylan a sneer. He walked over, standing in front of them and ignoring the bloody mess on the floor.

"What do you want, Captain Hunt? As you can see, I'm quite busy."

Dylan gave him a half smile. "I want you to start picking on people your own size."

Osiris laughed while toeing the unconscious form on the floor. "People like you, Dylan. Or Anasazi, perhaps?"

Tyr growled. His smile broadened at the response he got from the dark Kodiak.

"Now, what would be the fun in that? Sure, you might get hurt, spill some blood but I doubt you'd scream. I doubt you'd break. But these two," he swept out his hand to encompass the bodies on the floor, "they screamed. In time, they'll break. And they'll dream. After I'm long dead by the hands of someone like you, they'll wake up in the middle of the night, my name on their lips and the pain as real then as it is now. So I ask you Dylan and Tyr, what is the fun of picking on people my own size?"

He turned and walked away from them reveling in the stares of hatred now focused on his back.

Dylan was speechless; his thoughts in a whir. Truly, a madman had taken over his ship.

"Would you stop drawing attention to me?" a painfully raspy voice from Dylan's feet whispered, the sentence punctuated by ragged breaths.

"Harper? What happened to you? What's going on?" Dylan demanded.

"You know what happened," Harper answered, opening his good eye for a moment to give Dylan some reassurance. "As for the rest, just trust in the Harper." Then his eye fluttered closed and his body went limp again.

OOO

"Virus, eat thyself," Josephine commanded as she deftly tapped into the virus code while inside the VR matrix. She turned and looked over at Rommie, who was still trapped in the virtual cage. "We have a few hours before it's purged from your system. Then you'll have control back."

"Good. I can't wait." Andromeda gave the girl a feral smirk.

Josephine gulped, wondering what punishment awaited her, from both sides, once this was all said and done. If the Highguard prevailed, she'd probably go straight to the brig and then a prison planet. If the Nietzscheans won, she knew what fate awaited her there.

"So, uh, now for the rest of the plan."

"Highguard Argosy Training Mode. It'll buy us some time to allow the virus to be completely gone from my systems but allow the Dragans to believe they have some semblance of control. It is a truly good idea."

"The Harper _is_ good." Josephine responded. "What exactly does training mode do?"

"It is a simulation. We used to use it to train new recruits and run drills. It permits the crew to re-create battle scenarios while giving them minimal allowance to do damage."

Josephine leaned against the code in the matrix, relaxing a moment before she initiated the program. "So they think they're shooting missiles, the external sensors simulate targets blowing up, but the missile tubes never fire. Am I right?"

"Correct."

"And slipstream?"

"I have thousands of pre-programmed routes that the program can simulate. AG fields, and sensors compensate to allow the crew to believe they are actually flying in slipstream."

Josephine exhaled and for the first time genuinely smiled. "This will definitely buy us enough time."

Andromeda stayed silent for a moment, contemplating the smiling girl leaning in her VR matrix. It was a good plan, however, part of her job was to play devil's advocate. "They aren't mentally deficient. There is a possibility they'll figure it out before the virus is out of my system. That could leave us…vulnerable." The warship tripped over the last word, hating its sound and the fact that she used it about herself.

"Not if we keep them busy. I'm guessing you have some old battles stored. Maybe ones with rival prides. We give them a few hours of blowing stuff out of the sky, a sense of accomplishment, and Osiris won't even know what hit him."

"And then?"

"Then the real fun begins."

OOO


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Here it is. The part you've all been waiting for. There's only one more chapter after this one and a possible epilogue. Hope you enjoy. Please let me know if you like it. And just know that I tried to get this out as fast as possible so please ignore the grammar mistakes. (I'll clean it up later…maybe)

OOO

Moriah lightly bounced down the corridor to the brig, a cheery smile on her face, a full belly and a gauss gun strapped to her hip. She was a kludge among Ubers but was treated with full respect and allowed to keep her side arm. She was even allowed to move among them unquestioned. The respect was worth the little betrayal.

Osiris had ordered, no, politely asked her to check on the two females being kept in the brig and she had respectfully acquiesced to his request.

She walked past the two guards, neither one questioning her existence, and walked up the brig door.

Beka looked up from where she had been counting the deck plating upon the security officer's approach.

"Oh, look Trance, we have a visitor."

Trance opened her eyes from her meditation and her expression dropped when she found it wasn't Dylan, Tyr or Harper.

"Didn't mean to disappoint you," Moriah mocked, talking down to the purple girl at her obvious distress.

Beka crossed her arms and pinned Moriah to her spot with a glare. "Why are you here?"

"I would say to check up on you, make sure you're still alive but it's mainly to flaunt my freedom."

Trance looked at her innocently, confusion written on her features. "You're not free," she stated simply.

Moriah took a step back, like she had been slapped. It was eerie the way the girl had said it so simply, like it was fact and not the fiction Moriah knew it to be. "Yes, I am! I am free to walk this ship. I am not behind bars. I'm no longer a slave."

The purple girl shook her head and gave the blonde woman a pitying look. "No, no you're not. You've made a choice and bound yourself to a fate, a future. One where there is no freedom. You might not see it yet, but you've enslaved yourself to your actions, your betrayal."

"You speak in riddles," Moriah scoffed though it was obvious the words had affected her. Her cheerful smile had vanished and her face had paled. "You know nothing of slavery."

"Maybe," Trance replied, "but I know of fate. I know you can change it if you make the right choices. Set things right. Reverse your actions."

"And end up like them?" Moriah laughed. "End up like Frank, beaten and whipped? Or end up like your mudfoot friend, bruised and bloody?"

Beka, who had been watching the scene with interest as Trance attempted to manipulate Moriah with her innocence, perked up at that last statement. She stood up from the bed and crossed to the door.

"What have they done to Harper?" she hissed, fury running through her frame.

Moriah took another step back. Though Beka was safely behind bars, she wasn't going to take any chances. "Osiris had a discussion with him about putting his dirty hands on things that didn't belong to him."

"A discussion? That doesn't sound so bad," Trance said.

Moriah smirked. "I think it was Osiris's fists that did most of the talking."

Beka balled up her own fists, her eyes narrowed to slits and it was with all her restraint that she kept from rushing the door. "When I get out of here, you're dead."

"All the more reason for me not to help you and change my fate," Moriah replied.

Trance stood from her place on the floor. "What about the fate of others? You were a slave and it was obvious you hated it but now you're condemning all those people on obs deck to a fate that you loathed. They trusted you!"

She opened her mouth to respond and nothing came to her mind and she stood there like a gasping fish. She really had hated the mines. Hated the whips and the orders. Hated the fact that she was not able to run and hide because of the damn implant in her wrist. Hated the Ubers. Hated Corelia. Hated the pain of loss.

And here she was, standing on the side of the Ubers, helping the very ones she hated.

Moriah shook off the thoughts. It didn't matter now. She was getting what she wanted. To hell with everyone else. To hell with James.

"Well they trusted badly, didn't they?" She finally managed after a year-long minute.

She turned on her heel, hiding the tears that streaked from the corners of her eyes. She refused to admit to herself that she made a mistake, that not only had she betrayed Josephine but James as well by sending the very people he almost died to save back to the hell he wanted to save them from.

Once she was out of earshot, Beka laid a hand on Trance's shoulder. "It was a nice try but I knew you weren't going to get her to let us out."

Trance shrugged. "It was worth a try."

OOO

Harper groaned. His head hurt. His arm hurt. His body hurt. Even his hair hurt. Holy hell. At least his head was on something soft, though he couldn't say the same for his body.

"Hey," he heard a familiar voice murmur, "you in there?"

He opened his good eye and found himself staring into red-rimmed blue orbs. She had been crying over him. Well, he knew he must look like hell but not enough to provoke tears. Though it did give him a warm fuzzy feeling in the pit of his stomach that he was pretty sure was not magog.

"Hey beautiful," he croaked, his voice sounding foreign to his own ears.

He tried to sit up but her hands and voice stopped him. "No, no, don't move," she said and gently guided his head back to her lap. "Your arm is broken. I've tried my best to immobilize it but there is only so much you can do with flimsy gold cloth."

Harper squirmed and managed to look down where his arm was bandaged tightly to his chest. "Thanks."

"Hey, just returning the favor."

The ship suddenly pitched beneath them and he let out a sharp groan when it aggravated his bruised ribs. He heard shouting, and saw sparks while the Andromeda was rocked by another blast.

"What's going on?"

Josephine let a small smirk form on her lips. "We're battling the Sabra-Jaguar pride. Seems they want the Andromeda for their own. "

"How long til…?" he trailed off, not quite sure who was listening.

Josephine looked up at Tyr. She had asked him to start counting as soon as she had exited the VR matrix and found the beaten Harper.

She had run over to him the minute she had seen his limp form. Osiris and the rest of the Nietzscheans were oblivious to them once they had seen the power come back on and realized they had control of the systems. Then the simulation of a battle with Jaguars had popped up and the Ubers had become extremely busy, their hostages forgotten.

"Thirty minutes," Tyr answered his voice flat.

Josephine stroked Harper's hair. "See just thirty more minutes and we'll have you on med deck."

Harper sighed and let his eye drift closed. What he wouldn't give to be on med deck right then with painkillers and nanobots to ease his suffering. Not that he didn't appreciate lying in a girl's lap having her fingers run through his hair, but he had always pictured it with him being healthy and the girl with a bunch of grapes...though the outfit was dead on…but there wasn't any wine…or music…or other scantily clad willing females…he vaguely noticed his mind was wandering but he didn't have the strength to pull it back to the situation at hand.

"I think he's out again," he heard Tyr's voice say.

No, not out, just drifting.

"Let him rest. He needs it."

Ah, Dylan, the voice of reason.

"I wish I could join him," Josephine added, her tone exhausted.

Oh, yeah, join me baby. I'll bring the grapes.

"Search the debris field. I want escape pods and any debris that is worth anything brought on board."

That brought him back to reality. He looked up at the trio over him. "Uh oh," he whispered.

Josephine bent down and kissed his forehead. "Don't worry. It'll be fine."

She said it more for her own benefit than his.

"Sir, there isn't a debris field."

They all grimaced.

Osiris's annoyed voice cut through the silence like a knife. "What do you mean no debris field? We just destroyed two dozen Jaguar ships. There has to be something out there."

The other Niet looked at the sensor readings again just to be sure. "Sir, there's nothing there. It's like there weren't any ships to begin with."

Harper felt Josephine's sharp intake of breath and he grabbed her hand to reassure her.

"Tyr, how much longer?" Dylan whispered sharply as he realized where this was all going.

"Fifteen minutes."

She closed her eyes and steeled herself for what she knew was coming. "I can last fifteen minutes," she said softly. "I can last fifteen minutes. I can last fifteen minutes."

"External sensors must be malfunctioning," Osiris surmised. "Do a quick sweep of the area."

"Child," Tyr said harshly.

Josephine looked up at the Kodiak, fear and tears in her eyes.

"There is a knife in my boot. Take it."

She quickly looked over to the Ubers who were all checking their stations for errors. With shaking hands, she reached into Tyr's boot and took the knife. Instead of keeping it for her own use, she placed it Harper's good hand, the one that had been grasping her moments before.

"Josie, no.."

"Take it. I have no where to hide it." She helped him to hide it under his body. "You'll need it. Don't think I'm the only one in trouble here."

The Dragan in charge of sensors looked at the results of the sweep. "Sir, the external sensors detect the remnants of the drift but no debris from our fight."

Josephine gulped as she felt the cold green eyes of Osiris on her. She dared not look up when she heard his boots against the deck plating, willing herself to remain calm but knowing he had already sensed her panic and smelt her fear.

"Pet," he said as he towered over her, "I'd hate to think you had anything to do with this."

She tried to make herself as small and pathetic as possible. "Sir?" she asked as if not understanding anything that had gone on. Maybe his genetic code of believing others were inferior would allow her to squeak by on ignorance. Maybe he'd believe her too dumb to pull anything this elaborate.

It didn't work.

He grabbed her braid, pulled her head back so she was forced to look into his eyes. "This simulation that we've been playing with for the past two hours, was it your idea?" He let his eyes drift over the other three hostages. "Or one of theirs?"

Harper's hands itched to grab the knife and sink it hilt deep into Osiris but the cruel reality that it would only kill one and there were dozens left stayed his hand.

"I don't understand, sir," she said softly.

Osiris grabbed her roughly, pulling her to her feet, and Harper felt his head connect hard with the deck when his cushion suddenly vanished. Osiris wrapped his meaty hand around her throat and slowly began to apply pressure.

"I'll not let another lie out of that wretched little mouth. Now, tell me the truth or I'll squeeze the life right out of you."

Josephine opened her mouth to respond but couldn't. She was terrified of what would happen if she admitted to it, but refused to give up Harper. Osiris began to squeeze harder and shook her like a rag doll.

"I did it," a soft voice floated up from the deck. "It was me."

Osiris looked down to the kludge on the floor. Somehow, he had managed to pull himself into a sitting position and stared up defiantly into the Niet's scowling face.

With no preamble, Osiris threw Josephine away from him. Her back connected with the weapons station and she let out a yell when fiery feelings of pain raced over her body. She fell to the floor in a heap, breathing heavy, trying anything to remain conscious, as she felt the blood dripping from the lash marks.

His pet forgotten, Osiris menacingly approached Harper. "You," he sneered, "I should've killed you the minute I saw you."

He seized Harper by his broken arm and hauled him to his feet, pushing him against the wall. Harper bit his lip to keep the gasp of pain from clawing its way out of his throat when the Uber intentionally clutched the break.

"Hindsight is twenty twenty," Harper replied when he finally caught his breath.

"I knew kludges like you back on Corelia. Ones that didn't know their place. Ones that caused trouble. You know what we did with them?"

"Released them and sent them on their merry way?"

Osiris pressed his face close into Harper's. "No, we tortured them until they begged for death."

"Was it torture by bad breath? Because, you're killing me."

Osiris drew his hand back to teach Harper another lesson when suddenly Command lights went black.

"What the hell is going on?" Osiris yelled frustrated. He let go of Harper, who sank back to the floor and turned to look for Josephine. "What have you done to my ship?" he yelled into the dark.

"No, my ship!" she yelled back. The lights came on. Josephine was standing, holding onto the weapons station with a white knuckled grip, all traces of fear gone, only adrenaline.

Rommie was also standing, her force lance trained on the group of Nietzscheans on command. They stared in shock.

"You think an android is going to help you? I will kill you for this!"

"Andromeda," Josephine said calmly.

"Yes?" She answered, flickering into life at Josephine's side.

"Internal defenses, if you please."

"Internal defenses activated and targeting all Nietzscheans not a part of the crew." The hologram crossed her arms and gave a smirk to the large Uber.

"Why thank you, Andromeda"

"You're welcome."

The screams of Dragans and the stomping of boots were heard throughout the decks.

Osiris raged. "Do you think internal defenses are going to send me running? We can easily overcome those." He took a step toward her. "You're little plan isn't going to work."

Josephine released her grip on the station and took a step toward her master, undaunted. "Now, you see Osiris," she said, using his first name in an obvious taunt, "Andromeda and I had a little talk while I was in the VR matrix. We knew that internal defenses weren't going to run you off so we both decided that we'd rather be dead than slaves to the Drago-Kasov."

The hologram nodded as did her avatar.

"So, we came up with a little program. Andromeda, could you please run program 'Corelia's Freedom?'"

The hologram closed her eyes for a moment than opened them again. "Twenty minutes until AP reactor overload."

Osiris paled. "You wouldn't."

"Oh, I would. I'd rather be dead than be your Pet ever again." She said it with such conviction that the other Nietzscheans on the brig all started running to their ships, abandoning their leader. When he made no move to leave, she added, "Better go get your mother and be going. We're going to explode soon."

"It's a nice bluff. I give you credit, kludge, but I know your weakness."

He backpedaled and grabbed Harper by the neck, once again bringing him to his feet and pulled the engineer in front of him as a shield. "I'll snap his neck."

"No, don't!" Josephine yelled.

"Then stop it. Stop the countdown."

She bit her lip. "Rommie?"

"I don't have a shot," the android answered. Though she had impeccable aim, she didn't want to risk it, especially since Osiris could easily pull Harper into the line of fire.

Indecision raced through her. She desperately wanted to be free but she wouldn't allow Harper to die.

"Fine, I'll…"

She wasn't allowed to finish her sentence for she saw the glint of the knife held in Harper's good hand and watched as he plunged it into Osiris's side.

Osiris yelled and dropped Harper as his hands flew to the wound. It was all the opening Rommie needed and she fired.

Josephine watched as the Nietzschean that had enslaved, beat, and raped her for twelve long years fell to the floor with a thud, his eyes glazed in death.

She heard the commotion around her as Rommie ripped the shackles off of Tyr and Dylan, then, along with Tyr, force lances in hand, chased the Nietzscheans to their ships. But she couldn't take her eyes off the figure of Osiris. The once menacing figure reduced to a corpse.

Dylan cautiously approached her. "Frank?" he asked softly.

"Yeah," she responded, still distracted.

Dylan pointed to the ceiling; the sound of Andromeda counting down their imminent explosion still rang throughout the corridor. "Think you could turn that off?"

"Oh, Andromeda please end program 'Corelia's Freedom' and turn command back over to Captain Hunt."

"AP tanks venting, erasing last vestiges of the Frank virus." The hologram turned to her captain. "Dylan, you have command."

"Thanks Andromeda."

"Is he really dead?" Josephine asked and shakily pointed to the figure of Osiris.

"He has no life signs. He is dead." Andromeda responded.

"Is Harper ok?"

"He's passed out and needs to go to med deck but he should be fine."

She nodded. "Ok then, I think my work here is done." Then she collapsed.

OOO


	13. Chapter 13

OOO

A/N: So here it is "the end" sans the epilogue. I wrote it pretty fast so please ignore the glaring grammatical errors. I'll go back and fix them at some point. For those that were wondering, Harper does get the girl, for a little bit anyway (rant: Finally! Am I right? Part of the reason I wrote this was because I was so tired of Dylan getting the chicks and Harper hitting on women that were not good enough for him /rant) Tyr does something…nice. And it all ends with an happily ever after. There are thoughts of a sequel that takes place a couple of years into the future but no concrete plans as of yet. So again, thanks for all the kind reviews and I hope you all enjoyed the story.

OOO

Harper stood nervously in front of Dylan's desk, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, left hand shoved deep into his pocket, trying desperately not to fidget. It had been two days since the excitement, since the Nietzscheans had been run off the ship, and it had only been hours since Harper had finally been released from med deck.

The nanobots had done their jobs quickly, mending his bruised ribs and broken arm though he still carried the arm close to his body as if it still hurt him. The swelling around his eye was gone and all that was left was a faint yellow bruise. Physically, he was fine, except for the dormant magog. Emotionally was another matter.

Dylan looked up from the flexi he had been studying on his guest's condition. She had still not awoken and Trance said it was a combination of physical and emotional exhaustion.

"Mr. Harper," he began, "do you know why I called you here?"

A million things ran through the engineer's head. Could it be the fact that he had missed the virus? Could it be that he had let a pretty girl get the best of him? Could it be about his judgment?

Instead of answering, Harper just shook his head.

Dylan sighed. "Harper," he said less formally, "I want to apologize. I let you down. I broke a promise to a friend. I'm sorry."

Harper had been so convinced he was getting reprimanded that the statement caught him off guard. He sighed heavily, visibly wilting and let the tough façade he had built drop from his demeanor.

"Look, boss, I appreciate the sentiment but that's not going to bring them back, bring Brendan back."

"I know. I wish it had turned out differently."

"Me too, boss. But at least Brendan died fighting for something he believed in, something he loved, and it gave others some hope."

Dylan gave his engineer a surprised look. "That almost sounded profound."

"Don't get used to it. I fully intend to go back to beer drinking, women loving, freaking genius Harper as soon as I get all these thoughts worked out in my head."

Dylan leaned forward, propping his elbows on the desk and tenting his fingers. "Speaking of women, Ms. Josephine Frank is still asleep on med deck."

Harper flinched, and he knew he wasn't going to get out of this with just an apology and nothing more.

"I'm going to ask her to stay," Dylan finished, ignoring his engineer's expression.

"What?" Harper blurted, again taken by surprise. "She almost got us all killed."

Dylan shrugged. "She fought for what she believed in and did it well, I might add. That is something that would do well on the side of the Commonwealth. She's also technically gifted and I'm sorry Harper but you do need the help."

Harper nodded. "And you'll need someone if I can't get my unwelcome guests to leave quietly," he added, gesturing toward his stomach.

Dylan had thought about that but chose to ignore the comment. "Go get some rest, and that's an order. We still have to figure out what we are going to do with the refugees."

Harper left, his trust in Dylan not completely restored but at least it had started to mend, as well as his heart.

OOO

Chains. Whips. Ubers. Pain. The heat. The smell. She was back there, on Corelia, in the mines alongside her brother. The rock and dirt cutting her bare feet as she carried her tools along her lash ridden back, her fetters clinking against each other as she stumbled from exhaustion.

She fell. Then there were hands, strong bruising hands, dragging her away. Her brother ran for her but she saw them beat him down and she struggled, cried, screamed.

Josephine sat straight up in the bed on med deck, a cry dying on her lips as soon as she recognized where she was and the figure that was trying to calm her.

"Hey, you're alright. You're alright," Beka soothed. It scared her how much this reminded her of Harper when he had first come on board the Maru. Any animosity that she held toward the girl vanished when she saw the fitful dream, heard the whimpers and cries and finally the scream that tore her from her sleep. Corelia must have been hell for her, just like Earth had been hell for Harper and had given him the rancid nightmares Beka had to wake him from on occasion.

Josephine's chest heaved and her hands shook from the unspent adrenaline. She was on the Andromeda in medical with Beka and Trance. She was in some type of white pajamas with blue gel packs pressed in various places.

"I'm good," she said finally, echoing a statement Harper said all too often.

Trance came over and examined the girl's injuries. "Your back has healed nicely, with minimal scarring and your wrist is good as new, except we couldn't get the implant out."

"Osiris?" she asked timidly.

"Dead," Beka answered.

Josephine nodded, the fear leaving her when she vividly remembered Osiris's death in her mind's eye.

"Nefertiri?"

Again Beka replied with one word. "Escaped."

Josephine's throat clenched around the next name she wanted to speak. She had betrayed them all to the Nietzscheans but she had also been a good friend. She had taken care of her, watched out for her and it was hard to come to terms with the Moriah that had been her friend and the Moriah that had sold them all out. Besides, if she condemned her it was like condemning herself.

"Moriah?" she whispered.

Beka exchanged a look with Trance. "We don't know. She's not among the bodies that were left on the Andromeda but we don't think she went with the Dragans, and a slip-capable escape pod is missing."

There was one last name she wanted to speak, but she almost dared not. He had been badly hurt last time she had seen him and he wasn't on med deck. It scared her. But if he hadn't made it, she would probably be dead as well, by the hands of Beka. The Maru's captain had made it abundantly clear that she would be the one doling out redemption for any of his injuries.

She was saved from having to say anything when the doors to med deck opened and her spiky haired friend entered. He looked much better than when she had last saw him and she breathed an audible sigh of relief.

"Hey, sleeping beauty is awake," he said playfully as he walked in.

Beka swung an arm around Harper's shoulders when he stepped up to the bed and ruffled his hair. "Shouldn't you be resting?"

"Hey, I am resting. Do you see a tool in my hand? Didn't think so which means I'm not working which means I am resting."

"I think Dylan meant in your quarters and in your bed." Beka said.

Harper raised his eyebrows. "Hey, I'm willing if you are," he answered with a leer.

Beka teasingly punched him. "Well, Harper's back to normal, if you could call it that."

He stuck out his tongue at her.

"Children please, not in front of the guest," Dylan said as he walked into the room joining the game. "Do I have to separate you two?" The group smiled and then Dylan turned serious. "Ok, clear the deck. I need to speak with Ms. Frank."

Harper and Beka left. Trance handed the stunned girl some clothes. "Rommie and I found these in the old crew quarters. I think they'll fit."

"Thanks," Josephine managed. Her mind was more on what the captain had to say to her than anything else.

Once the others had left, Dylan hoisted himself up onto the bed opposite her. He handed her a flexi. "Thought you might want that back."

She took it and stared. It was the one that held the last image of her brother. She touched it reverently. "Thanks, but I'm sure you didn't just want to return this."

He shook his head. "No." He looked around the med deck, not sure where to start then finally took a long breath. "You sabotaged my ship and allowed Nietzscheans to come aboard. You got my engineer injured and then tried to blow us all to oblivion."

She didn't respond. She sat there, staring at the flexi, knowing she had done it all for her brother but had failed miserably. And now she was going to go to some prison planet or worse, they were going to pitch her out of the airlock, though she didn't know why they'd allow her to heal if that was her ultimate fate.

"With those events in mind," Dylan continued, "I want to ask you to stay onboard."

She looked up sharply. "What?"

"You're smart. You're brave and you fight for what you believe in. I need people like you to fight for the Commonwealth."

She gaped at him. "But I tried to vaporize you."

He laughed. "When I first met Harper, Beka and Trance, they were trying to steal my ship and hand it over to a Nightsider. I hardly see a difference."

"What about the other refugees?"

"We're heading to Mobius. They've already assured me that they'd give your people a place to live, jobs if they want them or transportation to somewhere else. They could even join the Commonwealth Academy if they wanted to. But it is a Commonwealth planet and they'd be safe there from the Drago-Kasov. I've also got their scientists working on how to get the implants out."

She gave him a small smile. "You have an unfair advantage. You've had a chance to think this all through."

"You'll get that chance too, and since I know Harper is not going to rest, I'll get him to give you a tour of the Andromeda. It might help you make your decision."

"Thanks," she said softly. Dylan hopped off the bed and headed for the door but her voice stopped him. "Sir?" she called, "I just want you to know, I did it for him," she said holding up the flexi. "I wanted him to be proud of me. I wanted his sacrifice to be worth something."

"It was. He saved someone he loved. Love is always worth the sacrifice."

OOO

Josephine had changed quickly, into the cargo pants and long sleeved shirt and then Harper took her on the tour. She had gazed in awe at the observation deck, and numerous machine shops filled with Harper's gadgets and now sat in the slipstream core marveling over the slip field generator. They sat next to each other, on the grating as Harper talked avidly about the Andromeda.

She took it all in. "It's beautiful," she finally said when there was a break in the one-sided conversation.

"Yeah, I love it here," he answered.

"Do you love it more than Earth?"

Harper leaned back on the rail and sighed. "I'll always love Earth. You never forget where you grow up."

She nodded, not looking at him, still staring at the radiating blue light from the slipstream core. "Dylan told me that love was always worth the sacrifice. I'm not so sure."

Harper reached out and lightly touched her hand. "Your brother loved Corelia just like my cousin loved Earth. We can't fault them for that. We should honor them for it."

She bowed her head. "I know, but I can't help but be selfish and want him back."

"Me too," he said softly. "He'd be proud of you, Josie. Fighting off Nietzscheans, outsmarting them, saving the others on the drift."

Josephine looked up and gave him a small smile. "Thanks. Your parents would be proud of you too."

"How'd you…" he sputtered, trailing off. He hadn't told her about his parents.

She shrugged. "I guessed."

They stared at the core, lost in thoughts, sharing a companionable silence. She scooted a little closer to him and leaned against his arm and he slid his hand into hers, interlocking their fingers.

He was the first to break the silence. "Someone once told me that love was just the reactions between particles." Harper stated to try and lighten the mood.

"Really?" she asked an obvious smile in her voice. "Could you explain that for me?"

"Sure, doll, the Harper can explain anything. Say there is a highly charged particle in this room that has a thing for brunettes with blue eyes. And there is another charged particle that just happens to be a brunette with blue eyes, and the interaction between those particles could be construed as love."

Josephine laughed for the first time in days and it made Harper smile to hear it. "Well, the other charged particle in the room does have a thing for geniuses with dimples."

"Really?"

She nodded.

"Well, would the brunette particle mind a kiss from the genius particle?"

She pretended to think about it for a moment then leaned in close to him. "Well, I'm pretty sure that the brunette particle would actually very much like a kiss from the genius particle."

He leaned in closer as well. "I'm glad the particles are in agreement," he said softly before gently pressing his lips to hers.

It felt just as it had on med deck and again he wanted to be drawn in. Her lips were soft against his and a shiver ran through him when she sighed into his mouth. Encouraged, he slid good hand around the back of her neck and deepened the kiss, their tongues mating in a seductive dance.

Abruptly, she pulled away. His eyes shot open and he saw that a blush had crept into her cheeks and her eyes were an electric blue. She looked almost shy and he wondered if the particle line wasn't as good as he first thought it was.

Finally, she spoke. "I think we should continue the tour."

"Oh," he replied, clearing his throat thoroughly confused "if that's what you want."

She stifled a giggle at his expression and tried to remain all seriousness. "It is. I've yet to see your quarters."

"Oh!" The confusion melted away and was replaced by his cocky self assured grin. "Josie doll, that can easily be arranged."

OOO

Dylan stood on Command, glad in the fact that it was his again. Though it had been two days since Osiris had taken over, he still was experiencing a little post traumatic stress. Again, he was not too proud to admit his control issues.

He heard the heavy boots of his Nietzschean crew member before he even entered command.

"Dylan, we must talk."

Dylan turned slightly and took in the hardened features of Tyr. His curiosity peaked at the tone and the expression, he acquiesced.

"What's wrong, Tyr?"

Tyr handed Dylan a flexi. The captain perused it, smiling slightly. "Did you do this?"

The Kodiak shrugged. "I called in a favor."

"Tyr Anasazi, you surprise me more every day."

Tyr smirked. "I knew some people that wanted retribution on the Drago-Kasov and this seemed the perfect opportunity for them." He shrugged again. "Besides, she fought well."

"Will they be meeting us on Mobius?"

"They're probably already there."

Dylan's smile grew. "Let's keep this between us until we get there."

Tyr nodded, then turned and left the deck, leaving a stunned Dylan in his wake.

OOO

They lay together in sated silence, skin brushing skin, hearts beating relaxed rhythms when they had been frantic a few minutes before. After having indulged in each other for the second time, he drifted in and out of a dream world. Feeling her move slightly, he instinctively tightened his hold on her thin frame, pulling her warm body closer to his causing her to sigh deeply. Her breath skirted the sensitive skin of his neural port as she nuzzled against his neck and it sent a pleasant feeling shooting down his spine.

Awake, she gently nipped his earlobe and it pulled him from his satisfying slumber.

"Hey Beautiful," he said, his voice rough from sleep.

Her reply was a trail of soft kisses down his neck.

Harper smiled. The more they snuggled, the more the idea of her staying with the crew grew on him. He hadn't really examined the proposition before, he hadn't had the time, but now, as she lay next to him, he really felt her place was on the Andromeda, safe, with him. Though he hadn't told her about the magog larvae, again he hadn't had the time to work up the courage; he did know that if he was going to die a horrible death he wanted his last days to be spent with her.

The request slipped from his mouth in a sigh as she continued her kissing, sending flames of desire coursing through him.

"Stay."

The kissing ceased. "What?" Josephine asked.

"I know Dylan said you could. I'm asking you to. Stay."

She pulled away from him in order read his features in an attempt to judge if he was sincere. He was.

Harper saw the indecision play across her features and he tried to sweeten the deal. "You'll be safe here," he offered. "I'll protect you."

Gently placing her hand on his chest, Josephine closed her eyes. She couldn't bear look at him, knowing she was about to hurt him. "Harper…Seamus, I can't thank you enough for all the things you've done for me," she began. "But, I can't stay." She dared a look at him and her heart broke at the confusion on his features. "I could very easily fall for a genius particle with dimples and I know you feel the same about brunette particles with blue eyes but what if one day Dylan ordered you or I to do something that would benefit the Commonwealth but might forfeit one of the lives of said particles. Could you do it?"

"No," he answered softly.

"Neither could I. I would value you over anyone else in this universe and that would be dangerous for the Andromeda, for the crew, for the Commonwealth."

Harper gently reached out and caressed her face, catching the stray tear that streaked down her cheeks. It was true. If he allowed himself to fall for her, he would put her above all else and it could be dangerous. He had already proven that with his actions over the last few days. He had put his life in danger to try and protect hers.

He gave her a reassuring smile despite the way he felt. "Your brother would truly be proud of you, babe."

She smiled back. "You do still have me for a few more hours. I wonder what we could do with those."

His cautious smile widened into a genuine one. "I have a few ideas."

OOO

Dylan relaxed in his quarters, reading a book, his feet up on his desk. They had reached Mobius in one piece and a few hours ago, he had sent Beka and Trance down to the surface with the refugees. He was expecting them back any minute.

Andromeda's hologram flickered into existence by her captain's side. "Dylan, The Maru just landed in hangar deck twelve."

"Do they have our guest with them?"

"Yes."

He dropped the flexi on his desk and allowed his feet to fall to the floor. "Alert Harper and Josephine to meet us there."

Andromeda frowned. "They're in his quarters. Privacy mode is engaged."

"Over ride," Dylan said. When the thought of what they could be doing entered his mind he quickly added, "Audio only."

He waited a moment for Andromeda to acknowledge that she had done what he asked. She nodded at him.

"Mr. Harper," Dylan called.

"Uh, yeah boss?" Harper replied and Dylan could easily hear the breathlessness in his tone.

"You and Josephine have twenty minutes to meet me at hangar deck twelve."

"Twenty minutes?" he gasped, "uh…can we get thirty?"

"I'll make it ten…" Dylan threatened.

"See you in twenty!"

Twenty minutes later, Harper and Josephine stood outside the doors to the hangar deck. Neither wanted to take a step further knowing it was very close to goodbye.

"Guess this is it," she said, turning to him.

"Guess so," he replied.

"I'll keep in touch," she offered, trying to placate the wild emotions running through her. "I'm even thinking of this Commonwealth Academy thing. It might give me the chance to run into you again."

He nodded, looking down at his feet. "It might."

They shared an awkward silence for a moment before Josephine plowed on. "Thanks, Harper. I won't forget you." She said before leaning in and lightly kissing him on the cheek.

He reached out with a shaking hand and lightly brushed a wayward hair from her face. "I won't forget you either, Josie."

She blushed and before she changed her mind she walked through the hangar bay doors.

Dylan was standing there talking to a tall dark haired stranger. He was lean with shaggy black hair and had his hands shoved into his pockets. His back was to the pair so they couldn't see his face but he was dressed in torn dirty clothes like he had just stepped off a dusty planet.

Harper heard Josephine gasp beside him.

"James?" she whispered.

He must have heard her. He turned around and Harper was confronted with the man from the flexi. He looked exhausted and Harper watched amazed as it turned into utter elation when he found the source of his whispered name.

"Josephine?" he asked, amazed, walking toward her.

"James!" Josephine yelled. She ran to his open arms and all but jumped into them.

He caught her in a bone crushing hug. James picked his little sister up and spun her around several times, making them both dizzy and laughing joyously.

She was laughing and crying at the same time by the time he had set her down. "I can't believe you're alive," she managed. "How'd you escape?"

James kept one arm around her, hugging her close and gestured to Dylan with the other. "Captain Hunt was just telling me that one of his crew set it up. Apparently, he had connections on Corelia that owed him a favor."

Josephine glanced over at Harper. "It wasn't me," he stated simply, still standing by the door, hesitant to intrude upon the scene.

Beka poked her head out from the Maru. "Hey, I haven't got all day. We going back to Mobius or what?"

James looked down at his sister. "Are we?"

She looked over to Harper again then back to her brother. "Yeah. I think I want to try the Commonwealth Academy. Become a real engineer."

"Commonwealth Academy, eh? Think they need people like me?"

Dylan smiled. "We always need leaders and from what I've seen and heard, you fit the part."

The younger man shrugged. "Just doing what I need to so I can protect the things I love."

"Aren't we all?"

James nudged his sister. "Hey, race you to the ship." He turned and took off running.

She ran after him laughing. "Hey, no fair!"

They raced into the Maru, Dylan and Harper forgotten.

Harper had watched the pair. They way they acted like two people who had never been separated, who had never been slaves. No bitterness between them, just love. For the first time since his speech on the rooftop, he was able to accept his part in his cousin's death and the death of so many because at least two people had benefited from it. At least, two people were happy, even if one of them was not him.

He turned to go but a voice stopped him.

"Hey, Harper!"

He turned to see Josephine hanging out of the Maru's airlock.

"Do you know what happens when you throw a rock into a pond?" she yelled across the hangar. "Ripples!" She spread her arms out and gestured to the Maru and her brother standing behind her. "I'm standing here because of you!" She blew him a kiss and waved. "Thank you!"

She disappeared into the Maru and the airlock closed.

Harper smiled, his spirit lifted. Maybe he was happy after all.

Dylan walked over to him and slung his arm around his engineer's shoulders. "There'll be more, you know."

"What?" Harper asked, becoming his old self, "cute girls that like me?"

"No. Ripples."

"Well bring them on boss because if they're anything like her then I'm ready for them!"

OOO


	14. Epilogue

A/N: Just tying up loose ends...

Epilogue

Harper wearily sat on the edge of his bed and pulled off his boots in preparation of a well deserved nap. He yawned and stretched, wiping at his blurry vision and trying desperately to beat back the tiredness for at least a few more moments.

The last months had been hell for him. For all of them. At least the magog larvae were gone but at the expense of two of his best friends. Though he hadn't really lost Trance, she was still there, different, not his purple princess at all, but at least alive. He couldn't even say that for Hohne.

Then he had the hell beaten out of him by Bobby 'A good waste of matter' Jensen. The creep. He didn't even know what Beka had seen in him but for some reason she loved him.

Right after that, he had almost lost Beka to some kind of disease. Sure, he hadn't really shown how upset he was, or scared, when he heard Beka had the symptoms but he was. He was terrified that he'd lose the only true family he had left.

To top it all off, they'd gotten eaten and almost digested. He was still doing repairs from that fiasco. Thus the exhaustion.

"Harper," Andromeda called, appearing in front of him in hologram form.

"Oh no, Rom-doll, the Harper gets some sleep before anything else happens. Whatever repair it is will have to wait."

He collapsed into the bed, fully prepared to give into beckoning oblivion but she stopped him with a simple sentence.

"You have a communication from Mobius."

That got his attention. Immediately, he sat back up.

"On screen and uh.. privacy mode."

Andromeda flickered out of existence and the message popped up on screen.

It was her dressed in a Highguard uniform, her black hair cut short barely grazing her shoulders, but her blue eyes were as electric as he had last seen them.

"Hey, Harper!" She exclaimed, smiling into the screen.

His tiredness melted away after he heard her voice. "Hey Josie," he replied quietly, knowing it was only a recording but wanting to feel her name on his lips.

"I don't have a lot of time but I wanted to send you a quick hello. I did promise I'd keep in touch. Academy is ok. I…I don't quite fit in. Not a lot of former slaves are running around. I tried to keep it a secret but it's hard to when you have a huge brand burnt into your skin." She looked down and away from the screen, her hair hiding her face. "It's not that anyone is mean or anything and I guess that's the problem. Everyone is overly nice, on tiptoe around me. It's weird. They just don't understand like you did. I sometimes wish I had stayed on the Andromeda…with you," she admitted softly.

He didn't even try to attempt to quell the rising emotions that her statement had elicited. "I wish you had too," he said, again talking to the screen, his voice slightly shaking.

After a moment she looked up quickly as if realizing she should try to remain upbeat and happy for his message. "But look," she raised her arm, "they removed the tracking signal so no more ugly bracelet. Oh and look at this!" She held up a flexi and moved it closer to the recording device so it took up most of the screen. "I got all high marks this grading period. I even got the highest mark in my Advanced Quantum Theory class."

He couldn't help but laugh at her enthusiasm.

The flexi dropped from his view and her beautiful face took up the screen again. "I don't have much time," she reiterated. She looked over her shoulder as if looking to see if anyone was around, before she turned back and touched the screen. "It really was easy to fall for a genius particle. I miss you," she said, her own voice cracking, trying hard to not let him see just how much. "Tell the others I say 'hi.' I'll talk to you soon. Bye!"

The message was over and the screen went black. "I miss you too, Josie," Harper replied.

He looked over to the empty bed that was calling his name and crawled into it, reveling in the fact that even though she chose not to stay, she did miss him and in her own way, loved him, just like in his own way, he loved her. He allowed his eyes to finally drift closed and despite the fact that he didn't share the bed with her warm body, he knew that he would at least have sweet dreams.


End file.
